empty and pour
Caz’s sermon this morning was so important. In the series on
happiness, Caz is talking about how if we seek happiness we will not find it.
But if we search for meaning, we will find joy. I believe a couple of weeks ago
he said that research showed that the parenting years left parents with a low
level of happiness but a greater sense of meaning. This is clearly true for
parenting, and also probably similar caring roles: teaching, nursing,
ministry.
Caz focused
on the first few verses in Philippians 2, which was an invocation to be humble.
I found it interesting what Caz shared about the Roman culture, and how it was
focused on shame versus honor. The
focus was on how people were viewed by others. So for Paul to tell the
Philippians to humble themselves was really drastic. Maybe today he would tell
us to post unflattering pictures of ourselves on Facebook. I think an important
distinction between shame and humility is that shame is often something others
place upon us, and is often based on actions. Humility is a choice. Jesus and
Paul chose to humble themselves. We choose to humble ourselves or not.
Caz closed
with the invocation from Philippians: Don’t
seek empty glory. Empty yourself to be filled with God’s glory. Joy is
found in emptying ourselves. Caz asked “What would it look like to empty
ourselves to serve others?” The idea of emptying ourselves can be hard to
grasp. But I think a good place to start is to think of pouring into others.
For me it would be making my husband coffee, or doing any of the many chores
that fall into his domain (good thing he doesn’t read the blog!). Any form of
serving others is an act of humility. It says to the person served you are valuable, and I am putting your
needs before my own. How much would our lives changed if we chose to humble
ourselves and pour into others? What are we waiting for?
Beth Kropf
