How to stay humble in spite of our religious heritage and practices.
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. Luke 3:8
Some of you are like myself; you grew up attending church before you could tell your left from your right. Maybe you memorized a lot of Scripture or can sing your way through half of the hymn book with your eyes closed (of course, you would skip verse 3 if you grew up in a typical Southern Baptist church).
Like the folks that John was addressing here, it is easy to become complacent with what we know and the heritage that we have been given. They pointed to their family history as a response to John’s admonition that they should change their personal behavior.
John’s response was short and brief; the way you treat those you interact with is what reveals your true heritage. This is difficult for us to swallow today and it was no easier to swallow 2000 years ago. Let’s break this down for us in today’s terms.
- In an election year, it’s not who we vote for, but the way we share and discuss those things with our neighbors.
- In a theological debate, it’s not the correctness of our doctrine, but the way we value those with home we disagree.
So, let’s look at Johns remedy for our willingness to promote our religious heritage as proof of our ‘connection’ to God. Luke 3:9-14
It is our daily, moment-by-moment, submission to God’s presence in our lives that will allow us to truly seek God. If God is present, then I can give away my material possessions which I value greatly. If God is present, then I can choose to pass up opportunities for self-promotion to trust in God’s provision and not my abilities. If God is present, then I don’t need to use coercion to achieve the results that I desire.
This is a challenging reality and it speaks to our need for daily immersion in God’s Word, and consistently seeking the Spirit’s leading in our decisions. Our daily willingness to value self over others is more of a revelation of our seeking after God than any other measurement which we might choose.
Daniel Harding