The Offer of Lowliness — Basilea Schlink

God lives and works today. He can totally change and transform people's lives if only they let him. Would you like your life to be different? Would you like to see some changes in the people around you?

Today's meditation by Basilia Schlenk will tell what you can do to bring about these changes.

Christ's Love Expressed in Lowliness

Our Lord Jesus Christ has loved us more than any human being could ever love us. His disciple John writes about his love, saying, Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. In the last hour of his time on earth, he showed his love by laying upon the hearts of his disciples and upon ours today.

What he regards as the most important, the most precious thing for our lives. Jesus knelt down before his disciples and washed their feet. In this way, he imprinted upon their hearts and ours the fact that our lives are to be marked by his lowliness.

Accepting Jesus' Way in Everyday Life

But what does it look like in everyday life when we accept Jesus' offer of lowliness and choose his way? I know a carpenter who is a good man and loved the Lord very much, but he simply couldn't bear injustice in humble silence.

The Carpenter's Word About Jesus' Lowliness

Once when he came to a retreat on Canaan, he received a saying for the coming year about the lowliness of Jesus. Your Lord and Savior is Jesus the Lamb. Be gentle, and as a man of meekness, you shall rule over others and govern with authority by the Spirit of the Lamb.

Struck by the seriousness of this word, he immediately thought of one of his workers who was so hard to get along with. A battle started to rage in his heart. What would happen if he went the way of Jesus' lowliness while this worker was there?

Choosing Lowliness Instead of Self-Protection

Wouldn't the other person get the upper hand even more and push him into a corner? In his prayer time, the carpenter read this word about the lowliness of Jesus over and over again. Finally, he struggled in prayer, saying, Jesus, you were the most lowly one of all.

Please stay in my thoughts. I want to choose your way of lowliness, no matter what it costs. With this surrender, the carpenter went to work the next morning. And what happened? The other worker was suddenly completely changed.

The Transforming Effect of Meekness

Instead of quarreling and arguing and trying to humiliate the carpenter, he was quiet and friendly. He silently did the work he was told to. It was the same way the following days. It seemed as though an evil power that had ruled over the worker had been broken.

The carpenter could only be amazed. He had never expected Jesus' response to be so real. But this is the way Jesus acts. All of us may experience this if we accept his offer of lowliness and are prepared to choose Jesus' way in everyday life, in living together with difficult people, whether it be at home or at work.

The Peace and Fruit of Following Jesus' Way

That can be painful. But at the same time, it brings peace and joy to us and others with whom we work and live. And in eternity, it brings great fruit and glory. For Jesus has promised us, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Yes, blessed are those who are willing to humble themselves and follow Jesus on this way of lowliness.

This program by Basilea Schlink has come to you from the Little Land of Canaan. If you would like a free leaflet by the same author, please write to God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85028 -4099.

That's God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85028 -4099. God bless you.