Walk Humbly Before the Lord

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

August 28, 2022

in Spritual Growth

No Comments

279

12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Readings: Ecclesiasticus 10: 7-18
Hebrews 13: 1-8
Luke 14:1, 7-14

God the Father has done so much for us. We cannot take credit for what He has done. All things come from Him. We are only using what He has already given us, and therefore cannot take credit for anything but give glory to God. It was the Sabbath where we find there’s a gathering in the house of a pharisee and the people were eating bread. The bread they had is not like the bread that we eat today. It was all grain and it would last for a long time without getting moldy. It was nourishing and it gave life. Many times in our lives, we want things easy, not realizing that all things came into being through Him. During creation, the Father of glory gave us the Spirit of wisdom.

In Today’s Gospel, Jesus is teaching us humility. We need not seek honor for ourselves because it has already been given to us. In the house of the Pharisee, people were coming in and sitting at the best places. Special seats have been assigned to specific people but these guests thought they were important enough to sit at the head of the table. Jesus is telling is if we do this, we might be asked to remove ourselves if these seats are not meant for us and we end up at the last of the table. Humility is that which should bring praise and glory to us. He has done everything for us so there should not be any competition among us. In the world there is so much competition. We seek to be better than someone else. We are to be like Jesus. As He is, so are we to be on this earth. God breathed life into us, and made man in His own image and likeness. He empowered us to be like Him. Being trained in the world, we see each other in different levels when in fact we are all the same in the sight of God. The Lord is my Helper. God is our strength, our wisdom, our confidence. In the world today, certain people are pushing other people to be like them. Who we are is how God created us to be. He also empowered us with the authority to be like Him. We try to to do things on our own and create our own image. That which is within us will eventually find its residence. Our minds are causing us anxieties and fears because we try to analyze things with our minds and do not think with our hearts. While it is a common thing for man to want to be better, it should be in our relationship with God which should be improved in our lives. When two agree on anything it shall be done by the Father. When the mind and heart are in agreement with one another, there will be peace. To make it work, we have to know His breath of life is the one keeping us alive. There is a cloud of witnesses cheering, rooting and praying for us. We need not be the ones to pray for them. Everything we have done, it is because God has empowered us to do these things. It is God at work when man invents great things for the benefit of mankind. Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” The Lord is my helper I shall not be afraid. Proverbs 25: 6 “Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men.” God will exalt us, we do need to exalt ourselves. He is the source of life. When we have a party in our house, we should not invite all the wealthy people but invite the poor who cannot pay us back.

Humility does not seek attention. He who was the Son of man, came and bore our sin and sicknesses, so that we may be restored to the Father. He was the Son of God who took upon Himself the mistakes of others. We need to be humble, not saying , “Look at me. Look at what I’ve done,” and seeking attention for ourselves. We are secure in Christ. We are to be helping others. He blest us to make us subdue the earth. We are to walk in that.