Appointed To Bear Fruit: A 90 Day JourneySample

Joy and Humility

One thing that is particularly wonderful in Indonesia is the splendid service provided by those in the hospitality business. For example, when you attend a wedding reception you are greeted by the friendliest people. These greeters make sure that you are well cared for. To be honest, it’s a joy to be served by people like this. It makes me feel special. But what is more impressive is the attitude of those who are serving. The greeters’ faces radiate with smiles showing how much joy they derive from assisting you. They reflect how blessed they are through their service to you.

Everyone wants to be filled with joy. Since people’s relationship with God has been ruined by sin, they often try to medicate their unhappiness with riches, popularity, and entertainment. But it’s not until after we believe in Christ that we receive the abundant life Christ promised, and enjoy all the blessings of heaven. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeatedly told His listeners that those who abide in Him will be blessed. In the Upper Room, Jesus again affirms this truth. Obeying the commands of Jesus will bring blessing. 

A humble life is also a blessed life. From the world’s view these two things seem contradictory. It’s human nature to rule rather than be ruled. In our flesh, we fight with wanting to serve others rather than being served ourselves. This is an area where Satan continually tempts us to live according to our flesh instead by the Spirit. But, we must choose daily who we will serve. We can choose to be filled with pride like Peter was and order Christ around, or we can follow the example of the humble Christ. We can fight against our flesh with the weapon of repentance by praying humbly, “Lord, I am a sinner. Help me to serve You and others. Forgive my proud heart.” When we are willing to become the least, God will flood our hearts with His joy and blessedness. 

It should be our goal to pursue joy in serving others. This is the fruit of humility. Our flesh; however, works to ruin this fruit. Christ always tells us the truth even if we don’t like to hear it. He says that His servants are not greater than Himself—our Master. If Christ was ridiculed, spit on, swore at, then we should expect similar treatment. We are not greater than Christ. Yet for many of us, we desire to follow Christ, but are unwilling to pay the high price of discipleship. We want the blessings without the cross. 

It can be tough to be humiliated and disrespected by your ministry partners. It can make us feel defeated and discouraged. But none of us are superman. I, too, am weak and find it challenging to continually serve in situations like this. These situations can rob us of our joy, if we let them. Without joy, it’s easy to fall back into living according to the flesh. Joy is like engine oil. Even when high temperatures strain the engine, the oil keeps everything functioning smoothly. The joy of a humble heart is possible, because we are doing God’s will rather than following our own foolishness or fleshly desires. After the disciples were arrested, imprisoned, and beaten, they were released and went home filled with joy because they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41). This is the blessing that Jesus promised in Matthew 5:11-12. There is a heavenly blessing in store for those who are persecuted, because of Christ’s name—joy is one of those blessings. 

Application: Is your pride robbing you of joy?