This Sunday is All Saints Sunday, as well as Communion Sunday for us. What an important day this is as we recognize those who have gone before us, as well as Christ's sacrifice for us. Our lives are impacted by those family members and friends that have shown us the love of God in real and tangible ways. They lived as representations of the incarnate God, who lives with us through the love of others.
I think of my grandmother when I hear the word "saint." It wasn't because she was perfect, overly pious, but because she showed me that God loved me. She loved me. I hope and expect that many of us have those people in our lives, now gone, that live on through what the taught and showed us. Their love lives on through us. God's love lived through them.
Matthew 23: 1-12 teaches us to be humble, for it is the humble who will be exalted. Those who are proud will be humbled by God. That is not a dull affair, folks. Being humbled by God does not simply mean that God will nicely point out where we fall short of a humble servant's heart. When we "lift ourselves up," (v12) we are setting ourselves up to be "brought back down to earth" by God.
Many of the saints that have gone before us have shown us the humility that this passage is trying to get us to reach or pursue. People of God who make an impact on us do so by showing us that it is not all about them, but about others, about God. Showing God's love is not a proud endeavor in which we can "puff ourselves up" because it always points to God, not ourselves.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. Humility means not placing yourself too high or too low, but just where you belong. It's OK to be proud of what is happening in your life. The danger is giving ourselves too much credit, and not enough to God and to those around us.
See you on Sunday, where we will remember and celebrate the saints that have gone before us, as well as the humble sacrifice Jesus made for us.
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