A Call for Humility and Righteousness

What is humility?

It is knowing your place in the context of all humanity. It is knowing the reality that there is a God who created all things and lives forever, and He is the one that is perfect and praiseworthy. We are human, who live but a breath upon the earth, to come and go like grasshoppers.

Still, knowing that we are loved by God is the greatest gift, and as such, even God said, we may boast of this: That we know God. Truly to know God is to boast about him and his goodness.

The call to humility touches also on love. IF we know our place in the world, we also know that all people are also loved by God. No matter how special we might think we are, God counts each person just as unique, just as worthy, just as forgivable, just as loveable as we are. In that case, we are to extend our love to everyone just as freely as God has given His love to us.

Humility allows us the freedom from pride. Protecting pride can be tiresome. You can never be wrong. You can never laugh at your mistakes, because that would mean that you admit that you can make them. Yet, humility opens the gates of our hearts to receive all people, regardless of their race, age, nationality, gender and all the little details that make us different and special.

We are called to be humble because it is in that state of being that we allow God to be Lord our our lives. It is also there that we allow everyone else an equal footing in importance in our own. This means being as generous to our employees as we are to our family. This means giving everyone a fair chance to speak in a meeting, and respecting the Janitor's opinion just as much as the CEO. This means paying attention to a child's feelings because we recognize that though their experience is little, their soul and emotions are of equal importance to ours.

What are the ways in which we can improve our humility not just inside ourselves, but also in action?

Righteousness is also a big thing. It can be as little as returning money you owe, or not getting a lost ballpen because you know someone owns that. It can be as big as fulfilling your rights to the mother of your child, and letting her see or keep the child as prescribed by the law. (I'm speaking to the father of my baby here) It can be following pay-grade laws and giving what is due to your employees. It can be just playing fair in a basketball game.

The bottom line of righteousness is recognizing that every person is a child of God, like yourself, and must have equal dignity. If we are in a position of power, we are in a position to enact righteousness. True stewardship is using our power to fulfill heaven on earth: by doing what is right.

God's whole complaint is that the whole world has gone astray, and their own souls are suffering for it. Now he comes as a judge, to remind us that we have to do better. We are expected to do better because we are made in HIS image, His goodness, and His greatness.

If we know we can do better, we are likewise responsible for the outcomes that have plagued humanity, and thus, we are also given a warning to shape up before the great and terrible day of the Lord. *if it hasn't begun already.

Jeremiah 6:22

This whole chapter is the destruction of daughter Zion, which is not good because that is me. What is worse is it begins with the coming of an army.

22 So says YAHWEH, Behold! A

people comes from the north country;

and a great nation shall be stirred

from the sides of the earth.

23 They shall lay hold on bow and

javelin; they are cruel and have no

mercy. Their voice roars like the sea;

and they ride on horses, arrayed like a

man for the battle against you, O

daughter of Zion.

Zephaniah 1:14

14 The Great Day of YAHWEH is

near; It is near and rushing greatly,

the sound of the day of YAHWEH.

The mighty man shall cry out bitterly

there.

15 That day is a day of wrath, a day

of trouble and distress, a day of waste

and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and thick darkness5,

16 a day of the ram's horn and alarm

against the fortified cities, and against

the high towers.

17 And I will bring distress to men,

and they shall walk like the blind,

because they have sinned against

YAHWEH. And their blood shall be

poured out as dust, and their flesh like

dung.

18 Their silver and their gold shall

not be able to deliver them in the day

of the wrath of YAHWEH. But all the

earth shall be consumed by the fire of

His jealousy. For He shall make a

complete, yea, a speedy end of all

those living in the earth. (Eze 7:19, Jer

25:31)

How can I save souls, I asked.

Zephaniah 1:14

I got the same reading but this time, this stood out:

17 And I will bring distress to men,

and they shall walk like the blind,

because they have sinned against

YAHWEH. And their blood shall be

poured out as dust, and their flesh like

dung.

It is because they sinned against YAHWEH that their blood be poured out as dust, and their flesh/entrails like dung.

Zephaniah 2

1 Gather yourselves, even gather, O

nation not being longed for;

2 before the birth of the decree, the

day shall pass like the chaff, yet not

before the hot anger of YAHWEH

comes on you, yet not before the day of

the anger of YAHWEH comes on you.

3 Seek YAHWEH, all the meek of

the earth who have done His justice;

seek righteousness; seek meekness. It

may be you shall be hidden in the day

of the anger of YAHWEH.

So this is salvation on the great and terrible day, that we may be hidden on that day. Listen, Zephaniah means "Yahweh will hide". Therefore, just follow what it says: Be meek and do justice. Seek righteousness and seek meekness. That is where salvation resides.

Jeremiah 25:38

It's funny because I saw the Hebraic Bible's cliff notes that I highlighted up there, Jeremiah 25:31. Now, I decided to find out what verse that was, and as I looked, it was the beginning of the chapter the lines God had given me before Zephaniah. The exact verse was:

38 Like the young lion, He has left

His den; for their land is a waste

because of the glow of the oppressor,

and because of His flowing anger.

The Bible notes though explains why the land is wasted:

29 For, behold, I begin to bring evil

on the city on which is called My

name, and shall you be found entirely

without guilt? You shall not be without

guilt. For I will call for a sword on all

those living in the earth, says

YAHWEH of Hosts.

30 And now you prophesy against

them all these Words, and say to them,

YAHWEH shall roar from on high

and give forth His voice from His holy

habitation9; He shall mightily roar

over His dwelling place. He answers

with a shout, like those who tread out

the grapes, against all those living in

the earth10.

31 A roaring will go to the ends of

the earth, for YAHWEH has a

controversy with the nations. He will

enter into judgment with all flesh; He

will give the wicked to the sword, says

YAHWEH.

32 So says YAHWEH of Hosts,

Behold, evil is going from nation to

nation, and a great whirlwind shall be

stirred up from the corners of the

earth.

33 And the slain of YAHWEH shall

be at that day from one end of the

earth even to the other end of the

earth. They shall not be mourned, nor

gathered, nor buried; they shall be as

dung on the face of the earth.

34 Howl, O shepherds, and cry, and

roll in ashes, O leaders of the flock!

For the days of your slaughter and of

your scatterings are fulfilled, and you

shall fall like a desirable vessel.

35 And refuge has perished from the

shepherds, and escape from the

leaders of the flock.

36 The sound of the cry of the

shepherds, and the howling from the

leaders of the flock will be heard. For

YAHWEH is spoiling their pasture.

37 And the peaceful pastures are

devastated, because of the glow of the

anger of YAHWEH.

38 Like the young lion, He has left

His den; for their land is a waste

because of the glow of the oppressor,

and because of His flowing anger.

Basically, God comes to punish the wicked of the land, and like a Lion, he destroys so that bodies are strewn from one end of the earth to the other.

In the beginning of this reading is a warning that Israel will not be without guilt. This is because he didn't warn and just stood aside for destruction. That is what I will not do. I will not stand aside. The reason why I am writing this is so that more people will be saved.

Each person has his own story, and each is called to righteousness on their own lives. For example, my family is called to do right by the orphan (me), the fatherless (my sisters and I) and the foreigner (also me because I never lived there). In your own life, you are called to righteousness and to be FAIR in some way. Do it. Do it while you are still alive. Do it while God is still listening, before his wrath comes upon the land.

We are also called to humility in some way. We are called to forget our self importance, and to practice seeing the perfection of Christ and giving the love of God to others, do it also. Do it while these bad things haven't happened yet.

For me, my call is simply to save as many as I can, and if it means saying these things, then acting in faith, and perhaps being made fun of for it, is a small price to pay for your lives.

The first reading of this series however, I asked about my son, Peace. He is with the family of his father, but the father has denied me my rights to get him back and even to see him.

Jeremiah 6:22

An army is coming to attack you, daughter Zion.

The thing is it talks of extortion and violence, as well as being greedy for gain. All these things I can't relate to. Maybe it also refers not just to me, but my whole place, which includes the Philippines. If you read the whole Jeremiah 6, it speaks of people unwilling to listen to the warnings, and the word of the Lord being offensive to them, how they cry Peace, when there is no peace. How they don't walk according to the watchmen, and so now, Fathers and sons alike will stumble over these obstacles, neighbors and friends perish. This is horrible. I pray that we can all listen to the best parts of our conscience and do what is right, just as we are able to be faithful in following God's good ways.

For me this goodness comes in being like a Missionary of Charity, and giving my undivided love to God or Jesus. It means starting to wear white and being called by a new name but more deeply, it means proclaiming my identity as a servant of God anywhere I go. It means that before any role in life, I am servant of God. It mean that my whole self- works, passions, desires, emotions, are HIS to lead, His to remove, His to guide. My leader and my King is the King of Glory, and it is He who loves me, and protects me, guides me, and disciplines me to become as gold. n (proverbs)

I pray that you take this warning and that you too may be fully formed and worthy for the promises of eternal life. AMen.