Fall Creek Christian Church

"Then King David went in and sat down before the Lord and prayed. Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving me a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O Lord God!"  I Chronicles 17:16-17 There are no shortages of examples in my life of times when I have embarrassed myself and those around me. My propensity to say and do things that miss the mark is one I cannot deny. Humiliation and self-depreciation follow closely behind these episodes. Finally, there is a struggle to regain my footing and move forward. Does this pattern sound familiar? In our verses for the day, we see David humbled before God. His humility, however, was not rooted in his failures even though he had his fair share of those. It was rooted in his clear recognition of his comparative smallness in the presence of God. One commentator expressed it this way, "Humility is not...

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."  Hebrews 12:2-3 As the movie scene rolls on, the battle between the special forces and the terrorists, along with those helping them, reaches an extreme crescendo. One of the bad guys manages to drop a grenade right in the middle of the good guys who are pinned down by machine gun fire. Without hesitating, the commanding officer yells, "Grenade!", and then dives on top of the grenade buffering his troops from the explosion. His death saved their lives. Intense? Heart-breaking? Sad? Yes. Courageous? Selfless? Honorable? Also yes. The writer of Hebrews recounts a similar, yet true story. The salvation story he reminds us of however, involves Jesus. His mission? Save the...