“Be Teachable. You’re Not Always Right.” – Toby Mac

While we did not talk about Toby Mac today in church, I thought about his words throughout the lessons of the  day.

One of my first thoughts, however, was about a passage in Luke that I bet I’ve read 10,000 times before and yet, I have failed to catch a  phrase that took on new meaning for me today. We were talking about the paralyzed man in the Book of Luke. His friends wanted Jesus to heal him. The friends laboriously sought a passageway through which they could bring the paralyzed man closer to Jesus. Ultimately, they settled on a plan to climb to the top of a roof and slowly lower the lame man from that roof.

I’ve heard that story many times before today, but I never before caught the following phrase just right:

 When Jesus saw THEIR faith, [not the paralyzed man’s faith but the faith of his friends], He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Luke 5:20

Say what?

When Jesus saw the faith of the lame man’s friends…

I never quite caught that interpretation before today, and that was a message worth getting out of bed an hour earlier and attending Bible study to hear.

Jesus healed the paralyzed man because he was in the company of people who had faith in Jesus.

Although I’m a big talker when I finally get out among people, I tend to be a loner. On many Sundays I have rationalized that I can read my Bible and worship at home. But worshipping at home alone [if I actually follow through and do it] is not the same as worshipping in a church.

A Church Is A Body of People

I have several weaknesses, and one of my infirmities is that I am easily discouraged and I easily become depressed. One of my more paralyzing bouts with depression was just before my daughter’s wedding. In the nick of time, my spirit improved. I have often told people, “I picked up my bed and walked.”

With those words, I was alluding to another story about another lame man  who was healed by Jesus. But I missed the point of that story, too. In saying that I had “picked up my bed and walked,” I was selfishly maintaining that I had control over my well-being. I was suggesting that I was the healer. I, by my self-control and my movement toward self-improvement, had changed my life. By my own strenth, I had beat depression.

I wonder if the lame man who followed the challenge of Jesus in the Book of John said: “I picked up my bed and walked,” forgetting that he could only do so by the power of Jesus, The message in Luke is different. Jesus says that he was healing the paralyzed man because of the faith of his friends; The paralyzed man needed both Jesus and the faith of his friends. In other words, I alone cannot fix much–but by the grace of God, through the power of Jesus, and through the encouragement of the church, I might have a chance.

What Is Humility?

My intention was to explain what humility is in this post, but that is a challenge too great for my limited vocabulary. I believe I have a better shot at suggesting what humility is not.

Humility Is Not Piety:

When I was a teen I read Michener’s book Hawaii, and I saw that book brought to life in a movie. Reverend Abner Hale is an example of Piety. In his limited vision, he left the USA to “save” the pagan Hawaiians. Isn’t that the history of America’s religious fervor? When the early explorers landed in the USA, they felt the need to save the pagan Native Americans. There was no need to listen to anything that they may have believed before we the “Correct” ones landed. We [the Pious] had the answers:

In the movie Hawaii, the closed-minded Reverend Abner Hale sought to convert the pagans on those islands.

At one point in the movie, Hale tried to tell a sweet Hawaiian that she needed to be more humble. After Hale spelled out his interpretation of humility, the Hawaiian monarch, seeking to better understand, asked Hale, “Are you humble?”

Of course, Hale was not humble. He lacked humility so very much that he never questioned his own moral compass. He KNEW that he was right [when he was far off track.” No doubt, he responded, “Yes. I am humble, but you are not,” That is an example of a lack of humility.

I was taught several other things in church today. In several cases, I was taught to better frame some of my pre-existing half-truths. [Is piety one’s hanging on to his half-truths that are based on pre-existing knowledge? I repeat this warning for myself:
“Be teachable. You’re not always right,” Toby Mac

Today at church, I was humbled by the fact that I do not know enough about the Bible and that I have been trying to function with half-truths. I was also taught that I need other people and that other people have much to teach me and to share with me,]

Be Teachable – Be Humble

Initially, I titled this post: “What I Learned in Church Today.” But in writing this post, I realized that to say that would be half-truth. I did not merely stumble into better understanding today, Someone opened my eyes and taught me to see things more fully.

“That Is What I Was Taught by My Church.”