PT-1 "The Characteristics of the Worthy Walk" (Eph. 4:2-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/22/2019 8:57 AM

My Worship Time                                    Focus:  PT-1 “The Characteristics of the Worthy Walk”



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:2-3

            Message of the verses:  “2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

            As we look at the five highlighted sections in these two verses we will see that Paul has given us five essentials for faithful Christian living, five attitudes on which walking worthy in the Lord’s call are predicated. 

            I have mentioned that I want to study Romans 12:3 which speak of humility, and so I am thankful to the Lord for allowing me to get a better understanding of this as I study it here in verse two.  I believe that it will take a few days just to get through this word and so we will just take our time and try and learn what we can as the Spirit of God will teach us more about these five essentials of walking worthy in the Lord.

            These five essentials that we are looking at are in order, similar to what we looked at when studying the second chapter of Peter a few years back.  You have to have and understand humility before you go onto gentleness and so on as we go through these different essentials.

            “5012 ταπεινοφροσυνη tapeinophrosune tap-i-nof-ros-oo’-nay

from a compound of 5011 and the base of 5424; TDNT-8:1,1152; n f

AV-humility 3, humbleness of mind 1, humility of mind 1, lowliness 1, lowliness of mind 1; 7

1) the having a humble opinion of one’s self

2) a deep sense of one’s (moral) littleness

3) modesty, humility, lowliness of mind”

            This is what it looks like in my Online Bible English/Greek dictionary and as you see the word translated “humility” is a compound word.  I find it interesting that “neither the Romans nor the Greeks had a word for humility” so writes John Wesley.  I find that interesting too.  John MacArthur writes “The very concept was so foreign and abhorrent to their way of thinking that they had no term to describe it.  Apparently this Greek term was coined by Christians, probably by Paul himself, to describe a quality for which no other word was available.  To the proud Greeks and Romans, their terms for ignoble, cowardly, and other such characteristics were sufficient to describe the ‘unnatural’ proud who did not think of himself with pride and self-satisfaction. When, during the first several centuries of Christianity, pagan writers borrowed the term tapeinophrosune, they always used it derogatorily—frequently of Christians—because to them humility was a pitiable weakness.”

            When I think of the word “humility” I think of what Paul wrote to the Philippians in Philippians 2:5-11 where Paul writes about Christ coming to earth, and the fact that when He did this He had to do it in a humble way.  I think of the hymn “Out of the Ivory Palaces” when I think of Philippians 2:5-11. 

            I will close this SD by quoting those verses in Philippians two, and then in our next SD we will look more closely at the meaning of humility as it has some, what we may believe are strange things about it.

“5  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at the highlighted portion from Philippians where we read “He humbled Himself.”  Jesus humbled Himself by taking on the form of a bond-servant in order to come to earth and die for me.  I have to believe that I cannot humble myself, but I have to learn how to be humble so that I can serve the Lord in a worthy manner.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to learn to be humble so I can be used by God.

Verse that goes along with our last quotation:  “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Ps. 51:10).”

2/22/2019 9:44 AM