HUMILITY
How do the truths in this chapter apply to your
personal spiritual life?
How do the truths in this chapter apply to your
leadership role within Classical Conversations?
What parallels in
literature do you see that apply or reference these same truths from this
chapter?
CHAPTER ONE
My spiritual life
“I
am sure there are many Christians who will confess that their experience has
been very much like my own. I had long known the Lord without realizing that
meekness and lowliness of heart are to be the distinguishing feature of the
disciple, just as they were of the Master.” – Murray, chapter 1.
This resonates true for
me. Of course, like many, I have studied meekness and lowliness of heart as
character traits of a disciple, but the way Andrew Murray relates humility to
the heart and character of Christ himself, all the way from beginning to right
now in this moment, was not a part of my consciousness before. I don’t fully
have words yet to articulate why that’s so, but it is.
Leadership within CC
When I think of this
question in relation to this chapter I keep going back to the call to understand
our proper position with our Creator…which leads me to reflection on my
position as a Director of F/E. One of the greatest things I’ve learned (after
multiple years in CC- smile, wink- I’m finally getting it!) is to trust Leigh’s
leadership and authority… and by having that proper perspective and respect, I
am protected and blessed to direct to the very best of my ability, which at
times, falls short. This goes for all the relationships around me, from
co-directors, to our SM, and so forth. My respect of their roles, which demands
humility on my part, underpins the foundation of everything I do. My leadership
is rooted by my entire dependence on God, and by my relationships having the
healthy/right position. And I’m so thankful that getting that right all the
time is not dependent on me, but that it has been gifted by the Christ.
Literature
Disclaimer-
after re-reading what I wrote in this next section, I find it a little much. Clearly I’m passionate
about this… and I have a long way to go in growing in humility, both in how I
study what I’m learning and how I communicate it. I appreciate, in advance, an
environment of grace among these discussions… as I humbly (jk) share some
swirling thoughts.
I’m reading a lot about
food right now… about real food, like
the kind God gave us to eat when he created the garden and the animals. Books
like, the Holy Bible, “Animal,
Vegetable Miracle, and Forks Over
Knives, and The China Study, and Healing the Gerson Way, and Disease Proof Your Child, and The Maker’s Diet, and In Defense of Food. The common theme I
found (although I don’t recall it ever being stated exactly this way) when it
comes to our current relationship with food is a problem of man’s pride. God
gave man food to eat that would sustain and nourish our bodies, and He
appointed us to care for and protect all these things He made for us. Also,
He made our bodies with multiple elaborate, complex systems that protect us
from harm and heal us when we encounter injury or disease. Good, all very good.
However, man has almost
never been satisfied with the food that’s been provided. And around the time of
the Industrial Revolution (and earlier even), man became obsessed with doing
just about everything faster and cheaper (to increase the profit margin).
Unfortunately, we began to industrialize food [i]production
just like we did cars- so we could make more, faster. While the assembly line
approach to car parts was very successful, it is not good for food production.
It’s not good for the animals who become
diseased and pass those diseases to humans in the form of infections.
It’s not good for the soil, which becomes depleted and then produces inferior
produce that’s susceptible to pests.
It is not good for the air we breathe because food now has to be transported
via semi-trucks, trains and airplanes. Etc, etc.
And then man took it a
step further, growing new “foods” [ii]in
laboratories, detached from the soil, water and sunshine (all the things that
provide the nutrition God established for us). Man truly believed he could make food faster, and better[iii],
and tastier. And he did, sort of, but at what cost?
Our children will be the
first generation ever to not outlive their parents because of what
they’re eating. Specifically, more than 80% of them will be dying from diseases preventable with diet- heart disease,
cancer and diabetes.
I am imagining a different future for my kids. It’s
a future where they have parents who live well (actively, vibrantly) into
their 90’s and 100’s. I imagine myself working and playing and resting well at
night, right up until a day when I retire for the evening and simply don’t wake
up the next day… no pain, no long suffering. A life well lived.
This is a life where our children have parents
who get to participate in the raising of their children and grandchildren,
passing on wisdom and legacy. I imagine a future for them of vibrant health- where
diabetes is not the
7th leading cause of death among them as it is now (and quickly
on the rise); a life where over
half of the men in their life do not die prematurely from heart attacks. And where they do not lose 4
out of every 10 of their friends to cancer.
In the US, the top two causes of death, heart
disease and cancer, make up 50%
of our deaths every year. Heart disease and cancer are preventable[iv].
Diabetes, also preventable with diet[v], is
projected to kill and/or severely debilitate about another 30% of us. Further,
all of these disease processes can be, and have been, cured or drastically
improved with changes in diet.
Globally, our loss of
humility when it comes to respecting the provision God made for us has come at
a profound loss. Millions are chronically ill and dying from eating man-made
fake food. If we respect the land by harvesting[vi]
it correctly, and respect the animal by feeding it it’s true diet,
and respect the human by feeding him real food [vii]
that God grows with soil and water and sunshine, then millions of us would be freed up to do the good works laid out
for us, unencumbered by fatigue and disease and sorrow of losses[viii].
We would be around to stand as witnesses to our great-grandchildren of all the
Lord has done and is doing. We could work together, play together, rest
together and talk together about the goodness of the Lord, without the weight
of rotting bodies[ix].
Personally, my desire for quick and easy food,
which I always thought/justified, freed
me up to do good works, actually chained me to illness, fatigue and
debility. That pride (desire to accomplish more, faster) contributed to my fast
paced, over-committed, stressful lifestyle. I suffered decades of health losses
that were completely unnecessary.
Losses of organs- appendix, thyroid, gall bladder. Loss of babies through
miscarriage. Loss of health in the form of autoimmune thyroiditis, autoimmune
complex disorder, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, migraines, joint pain
and swelling, chronic digestive pain and disease, superficial melanoma and
dozens of atypical lesions / losses of flesh, fibrocystic breast disease,
debilitating menorrhagia, and sadly, the list goes on and on. SO UNNECESSARY[x].
The good news for me, and for all of us, is the grace of food. Our generous Father has,
true to His nature and His ways, provided life-giving food. All I have to do is
EAT IT, and my body is now healing itself, per His design and good intent[xi].
Simple food grace. Praise the Lord God!
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. – Genesis 1:29
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. – Genesis 1:29
And to every beast of the earth and to every bird
of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has
the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. –
Genesis 1:30
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for
you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. – Genesis 9:3
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is
good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! – Psalm 34:8
And I commend joy, for man has no good thing
under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in
his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun. –
Ecclesiastes 8:15
He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers
his covenant forever. – Psalm 111:5
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning
the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. -1 Corinthians 11:29
She rises while it is yet night and provides food
for her household and portions for her maidens. – Proverbs 31:15
You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and
plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth.
–Psalm 104:14.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not
bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me,
and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. – Isaiah 55:2
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them
their food in due season. – Psalm 145:15
And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell
you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body,
what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than
clothing. – Luke 12:22-23
You prepare a table before me in the presence of
my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. – Psalm 23:5
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls
on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated,
receives a blessing from God. – Hebrews 6:7
He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young
ravens that cry. – Psalm 147:9
Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is
renewed like the eagle's. –Psalm 103:5
Okay, well this turned
out to be an odd mix of passion and academia for me tonight. Pardon the
footnotes and hyperlinks, they’re for my own benefit as I continue to learn.
And let me just say, for every argument and research study, there is often a
valid opposing one. I get that. These are just the ones that reflect where I am
in a journey, young as it is.
[i] Industrialization of food is one
piece of the very complex problem called our Standard American Diet (SAD). It’s
just the one on my mind tonight as I write.
[iii] You can consider MSG a type of
food drug; once consumed, it makes you crave and eat more of the food than you
need to. Source: http://youthradioeats.blogspot.com/2011/01/sleepy-msg.html
[iv] Scientists predict about 1 to 2% of cancers are driven by genes
alone. All others are “turned on” by our environment and most specifically, our
food choices.
[v] Even Type I diabetes is now being linked to early
consumption of cow milk
[vi] Do not be deceived: God is not
mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. -Galatians 6:7
[vii] Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I
gave you the green plants, I give you everything. – Genesis 9:3
[ix] To be clear, lest anyone worry that I’m worshiping HEALTH, I am
not. It is a gift I thankfully receive from my Maker. I wish to preserve
it for the sake of living the life He
created me for… which I recognize we all do, with or without good health.
The difference I dream of is one where I am not usurping His purposes by making
myself sick unnecessarily with food substitutes. I endeavor to thrive under the
provision of food he’s provided, rather than using a poor substitute based on
the desires of my own flesh for fat, salty & sweet, fast & easy food.
[x] And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. – Romans
8:28
[xi] I’m not implying that God never causes suffering. Clearly, he has
and does. I don’t argue that point or pretend to understand the complexities of
His ways and His thoughts. What I’m referring to here is the space where I’m
susceptible to a serpent who steals, kills and destroys at the slightest
invitation. I endeavor to bring light to those spaces and remove that
susceptibility, by Jesus’s power and strength to do so.
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