Humble yourselves

“If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

Lately I have been visiting schools and evaluating the special education teachers that are in our program. The schools are in the rural area, people are very poor, there aren't many possibilities. Our students didn't have the oportunity to attend a school before the program because of their disabilities.

Supposedly this should be a wonderful opportunity to see how their lives have been improved by everything we have done. When I visit the schools I have the security that I am making an impact in people's lives, I'm doing what God called me to do.

And then I come across a school where the best thing I can say is that the teacher won't be there for a long time anymore. No, it's not that the teacher has been abusing or mistreating the students. The teachers just haven't been doing what she was supposed. She/he hasn't even been there to do it. Or when she/he has been she's been too busy to attend the students. Or she/he just hasn't been interested in teaching. Or she/he thinks that these students won't learn anything anyways, they are impossible to teach, everything is just a waste of time.
So, what should I do?

1 Peter 5:6 - “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”

Give up? Scream? Demand the district to fire the teacher? Hit him/her? Cry? Insult him/her? Just go home and try harder?

What if it isn't me? What if I have done EVERYTHING that is humanely possible? What if there is NOTHING more for me to do?

For me here is an important lesson, because “If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.” ― Corrie Ten Boom. Even when everything seems impossible and all my hopes are frustrated, it's not true. I just have been looking in the wrong direction.
But looking at the right direction isn't all that I need. In everything I do, there is an I. There I am, proud and vain, for everything that "I" do. Is this really about me? Am I the saviour here? Did I come here to change the lives of these people?

It is so easy to make everything about me, to exalt myself. After all, who is doing all the work?

Philippians 3:13: “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Well, who is doing all the work? Think about it...

Maybe I should sit down and think this over. What does the Bible say? In 1 Peter 5:6 - “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”

It's so easy to be proud and think that I am better than other people.

So, it's same old same old... Fighting with the pride. I definedly am not doing what I want. How am I ever supposed to be free of sin?

At least I'm not alone, at least there is hope for me. In Paul's words Philippians 3:13: “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

What if God were like me? Ready to give up and scream? Just waiting for a chance to say, Oh! She's not worth it! Why in earth did I let my son to die for HER?! The best thing here is that she'll die soon and then I won't have to see her EVER again!

“Nothing is yet in its true form.”-- C.S. Lewis in Till We Have Faces

I know I'm not worth being saved. I wouldn't be here without God's mercy and infinite compassion. I need His forgiveness every day of my life. But I'm ready to throw other people overboard, because they aren't worth it. They aren't trying hard enough. They aren't intelligent enough. They aren't working for it.

My life was given me for free. In John Newton's words: "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind but now I see".

How many times I thank God for saving me and then turn around to stab my neighbour in the back.

Sadly, I still am blind and can't see the people around me for who they really are, Children of Powerfull King, Descendants of Eternal Sovereign, Heirs to the Ruler Over Us All.

I really need to remember C. S. Lewis' words: "Nothing is yet in its true form". The way I see people around me isn't who they really are.

“God is honored by large, difficult, and impossible requests when we ask, seek, knock, and trust our loving Father always to answer for our good.” - Charles F. Stanley

So, I must return to where I begun. I need to fasten my eyes to God and wait for Him. I need to be sure in His promises.

After all “God is honored by large, difficult, and impossible requests when we ask, seek, knock, and trust our loving Father always to answer for our good.” - Charles F. Stanley