Ability

Latin A (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today I'll start going over some words of importance to come to understanding of the Word of God.

The first word is "ability" without one is nothing. Without ability there is no being, because to be a being there has to be the ability to be or to be a being, able to have abilities to sustain that being and to make it grow or to develop.

to come to understand the Word of God one has to be able to think about what is written in the Book of books, the Bible, which gives the power and ability to change.

-ability: word-forming element expressing ability, fitness, or capacity, from Latin -abilitas, forming nouns from adjectives ending in -abilis (see -able). Not etymologically related to ability, though popularly connected with it.

ability (n.) : late 14c., "state or condition of being able; capacity to do or act," from Old French ableté "ability (to inherit)`," from Latin habilitatem (nominative habilitas, in Medieval Latin abilitas) "aptitude, ability," noun of quality from habilis "easy to manage, handy" (see able). One case where a Latin silent -h- failed to make a return in English (despite efforts of 16c.-17c. scholars); see H. Also in Middle English, "suitableness, fitness." Abilities "one's talents or mental endowments" is from 1580s.

A′ble·ness, n. Ability of body or mind; force; vigor. [Obs. or R.]

A′bly, adv. In an able manner; with great ability; as, ably done, planned, said.

-a·bly. A suffix composed of -able and the adverbial suffix -ly; as, favorably.


The divine Creator gave man"ability" or the quality or fact of being able to use their own power to do something, either thinking, developing or creating. To have ability to do things God gave man power of strength and skills.

One is "able" to do things, which a person can do by his own choice or being forced by others to do. A person who is able to do things can do that by using his brains or his mind. He can have enough strength power or means to bring change in certain things or to give himself a voice to make his opinion known to others or to get things done by himself or by others for him or for others.
Once a person is able he or she is capable of being.

able (adj.): "having sufficient power or means," early 14c., from Old French (h)able "capable; fitting, suitable; agile, nimble" (14c.), from Latin habilem, habilis "easily handled, apt," verbal adjective from habere "to hold" (see habit (n.)). "Easy to be held," hence "fit for a purpose." The silent h- was dropped in English and resisted academic attempts to restore it 16c.-17c. (see H), but some derivatives (such as habiliment, habilitate) acquired it via French. Able seaman, one able to do any sort of work required on a ship, may be the origin of this:

Able-whackets - A popular sea-game with cards, in which the loser is beaten over the palms of the hands with a handkerchief tightly twisted like a rope. Very popular with horny-fisted sailors. [Smyth, "Sailor's Word-Book," 1867]

-able : common termination and word-forming element of English adjectives (typically based on verbs) and generally adding a notion of "capable of; allowed; worthy of; requiring; to be ______ed," sometimes "full of, causing," from French -able and directly from Latin -abilis. It is properly -ble, from Latin -bilis (the vowel being generally from the stem ending of the verb being suffixed), and it represents PIE *-tro-, a suffix used to form nouns of instrument, cognate with the second syllables of English rudder and saddle (n.).

A living element in English, used in new formations from either Latin or native words (readable, bearable) and also with nouns (objectionable, peaceable). Sometimes with an active signification (suitable, capable), sometimes of neutral signification (durable, conformable). It has become very elastic in meaning, as in a reliable witness, a playable foul ball, perishable goods.

To take a single example in detail, no-one but a competent philologist can tell whether reasonable comes from the verb or the noun reason, nor whether its original sense was that can be reasoned out, or that can reason, or that can be reasoned with, or that has reason, or that listens to reason, or that is consistent with reason; the ordinary man knows only that it can now mean any of these, & justifiably bases on these & similar facts a generous view of the termination's capabilities; credible meaning for him worthy of credence, why should not reliable & dependable mean worthy of reliance & dependence? [Fowler]

In Latin, infinitives in -are took -abilis, others -ibilis. Hence the variant form -ible in Old French, Spanish, English. In English, -able tends to be used with native (and other non-Latin) words, -ible with words of obvious Latin origin (but there are exceptions). The Latin suffix is not etymologically connected with able, but it long has been popularly associated with it, and this probably has contributed to its vigor as a living suffix.

able-bodied (adj.): "healthy and sufficiently strong," 1620s; see able + body.
controllable (adj.): 1570s, from control (v.) + -able.
redeemable (adj.): 1610s, from redeem + -able.
reconcilable (adj.): 1610s, from reconcile + -able.
improvable (adj.): 1640s, from improve (v.) + -able.

Since we are created we came into being and as such became able to breath, think and handle. though having come from fallible parents we also inherited less good parts from them. We can live by them and be happy with the bad parts we inherited or we can work at ourselves to improve with the knowledge that everything is improvable,or can be changed for the better.

Someone who is able can be very clever or very good at doing something,having the necessary power, resources, skill, time, opportunity, etc, to do something. One has not to have certificates or being qualified to do something, but one have to be willing to do something and then to be  competent, having enough power, skill, etc., or authorized to do some specific act.

It is the divine Creator Who gives to all human, animal and vegetable beings sufficient power or resources to accomplish something. But man has received more abilities from God than the other creatures. We all may receive according our own abilities and should be happy with that but also do something with it.

Ex. 4:11 … Who gives people the ability to speak? …

Ex. 36:1 … the LORD has given skill, ability, and knowledge for the work …

1Chr. 26:8 … were skilled and had the ability to perform the service. …

Wis. 7:7 … I prayed, and the ability to reason wisely was given

Sir. 14:13 … According to your ability, reach out, and give to them. 

Rom. 12:18 … to the best of your ability, live at peace with all …

“And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey.” (Matthew 25:15 ASV)

1Cor. 12:8  The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak with wisdom. The same Spirit gives another person the ability to speak with knowledge.

“And“But now complete the doing also; that as [there was] the readiness to will, so [there may be] the completion also out of your ability.” (2 Corinthians 8:11 ASV)

“But now complete the doing also; that as [there was] the readiness to will, so [there may be] the completion also out of your ability.” (2 Corinthians 8:11 ASV)

All have people ability and opportunity to do wrong so cunningly or powerfully that they may escape the observation and censure of men. But all people also have enough ability to feel what is right and wrong, since Adam and Eve have eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, each of their offspring has that knowledge. Persons of knowledge, wisdom, and experience, can be a nobody but also can become famous, being good or also bad in reputation, for ability and integrity; they all have an inner feeling, call it instinct of goodness and badness.

 All of us have received ability to think, observe, analyse and should know that by the gift our ability we shall have to make choices which can give us stability or instability and shall bring over us accountability.

Lots of instability of societies has come because people were not able to make the right choices. Often lots of people live at a rate which their consciences know to be much above their ability; which certainly is an ungodly and unrighteous, though too common, practice. 


As believers of God we should see that we take care to be able to make the right choices. this can be done by creating the right atmosphere by having the right attitude and the will to live according to God's commandments.

Therefore it is important to be able to make the right choices and to come in proper relationships with others in good association or incorporation of themselves with them; avoiding to fall for man's doctrines which go against biblical doctrines. 

Of the scornful; of those who are not only diseased, but reject, despise, and scorn all remedies; who make a mock of sin, and of God's threatenings and judgements against sinners; who deride all wholesome reproofs and counsels, and make it their trade to scoff at goodness and good men. Be able to see those who are wrong and who are the real satan or adversary of God.

Make it that you get the ability or the power to change your evil being in a good worthy being to be part of the Body of Christ, skilled, talented, or having the capacity to live according to the Will of God, having the quality of being suitable for or receptive to a specified treatment, namely to be taken up in the body of Christ and to be allowed or justified to enter the Kingdom of God.

Compare:
capable; skilled, skilful, talented, gifted, adept, competent, fit, powerful, proficient, masterful, efficient, accomplished, effective, practised, adroit, qualified, expert
talent, skill, gift, expertise, faculty, competence, energy, flair, accomplishment, knack, aptitude, proficiency, dexterity, cleverness, potentiality, adroitness, adeptness

capability, facility, capacity, power, potential, competence, competency, potentiality, qualification, 


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Continued with: 

Ability (part 2)

Ability (part 3) Thoughts around Ability

Ability (part 4) Thought about the ability to have ability

Ability (part 5) Thought about the abilities to be under God's Spirit

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Find also to read: 

1. Genesis – Story of creation 4 Genesis 2:16-25 Warning for Adam and Eve
2. With God All Things Are Possible
3. Failing Man to make free choice
4. Being Religious and Spiritual 6 Romantici, utopists and transcendentalists
5. Power in the life of certain 
6. To whom do we want to be enslaved
7. Compromise and accomodation
8. Thought for those who think it is not necessary to do any works any more
    

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Good and bad things in this world

There are many good things in this world, but also many bad things; Thee are also many things which may seem good but which are not so go for us. There are many tempting things which may bring us in situations where we are going to do things which are not always so good for us.

Those things which may bring us in temptation do not always show their true face. When we give in we call such an action sinning.

In the old times already warnings were given. Everything got notated in a Book of books, in which people could find advice and guidance.

We ourselves do have to be aware that we just can not be perfect, but also can not expect others to be perfect.  We also have to be careful how we look at others and do not judge them. By judging others we ourselves could be doing wrong. No man, except Christ Jesus was or is sinless. We may not have any illusion about that.

The one who makes us well and gives life was born long ago and after his death taken out of the dead, as an example to what can happen to us. To Jesus was authority given to to give eternal life.

We may wonder if we 'Can we not do what Jesus did?' but should know it seems to be impossible, but there is no reason not to try it.

It all started very early at the beginning of times, in the garden of Eden, when the fall of man pulled us all in a terrible situation and got many people doubted God's right to have dominion over us and to judge us.

Some may say that

a thing is good when on its own account it ought to exist, and bad when on its own account it ought not to exist. If it seems to be in our power to cause a thing to exist or not to exist, we ought to try to make it exist if it is good, and not exist if it is bad.

Though many try to bring things in existence which are not good at all. When a thing is good, it is fitting that we should feel pleasure in its existence. When it is bad, it is fitting that we should feel that there is something wrong with it. Somehow each person, like animals, has some inner feeling or instinct, of what is good or bad.

For many good means the same as desired, so

that when we say a thing is good we mean that it is desired.

 but man has many desires which are not at all good for him.Therefore we do have to be careful with such a definition of "good" and "bad".

You also might say

ethical preferences are a mere matter of taste,

and in a certain way they are and they can change by the standards of time. What might be considered the right way in one period of time may be considered the wrong way in an other period.

When people would listen much more to their inner voice, they would much easier know what is good and what is bad. Also when they would read the Bible and keep to its instructions there would be less difficulties in the world about the concern of doing good or bad, than everyone would have a correct guiding or measuring unit for goodness and badness.

This article is not meant to go deep into the matter, but is only provided to introduce the question and to present some interesting articles.

1. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 1
2. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4
3. A Living Faith #4 Effort
4. Let not sin reign in your mortal body
5. No time for immorality
6. Integrity of the fellowship
7. Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness
8. A voice and a Word given for wisdom
9. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
10. The one who makes us well and gives life
11. Authority given to him To give eternal life
12. We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”
13. Can we not do what Jesus did?
14. Salvation and Righteousness
15. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
16. Atonement and the race been bought
17. Missional hermeneutics 5/5
18. May the Lord direct your hearts to …
19. Cognizance at the doorstep or at the internet socket
20. What Is Sanctification?

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A Jewish Woman and a Test of Faith

James Mason

Here is an interesting test, “Is your faith as strong as the faith of the Jewish mother in the following story?” A forty-year old Israelite woman had suffered heart wrenching agony, her Jewish mother asked, “Do you want to pray?” The daughter (who had prayed all her life) now with tears in her eyes said no! The mother asked, “Why?” Her daughter said, “Because I am not going to hand my future over to whatever it is who is supposed to be loving and who I didn’t think should let me suffer in this way, I thought God was good.” The mother with great insight replied, “Maybe God is worth it, maybe God is also difficult, awful, complicated” the daughter prayed. Here’s the test, “If God seems difficult awful and complicated in our lives is our faith like the mothers or like the daughters?

Belief of the things that God has promised

Faith

"The first step along the way of life, ... , is belief of the things that God has promised. This is enjoined by Jesus when he gave his last commission to the apostles: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be condemned " (Mark 16:15, 16). "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:18-20). When men are so "taught" by the word of God, they manifest faith in the things He has promised. Without this faith men are not well pleasing to God (Heb. 11:6). In support of their teaching the Apostles turn to the Old Testament to find in Abraham an outstanding illustration of the way to secure God's approval. "Abraham believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). The whole of the fourth chapter of Romans is devoted to unfolding the implication of this statement; and at the end of the chapter Paul declares that it was "not written for Abraham's sake alone, but for us also, to whom righteousness shall be imputed, if we believe on God" (Rom. 4:23, 24). "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation", but it is ineffective unless it is believed; so Paul adds "to everyone that believeth" (Rom. 1:16)

In Acts, Chapter 10, we read of a centurion, Cornelius, described as a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, devoted to almsgiving and to prayer, who was told by the angel of God to send men to Joppa for Peter: "he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do" (Acts 10:6). As we think of the exemplary character of the man, judged by human standards, we might wonder what he lacked to be approved of God. His devoutness and goodness in themselves were evidently not sufficient. The phrase, "What thou oughtest to do", has the authoritative ring of a divine imperative. With the angel's assurance that he "shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved" (11:14). Cornelius accordingly sent for Peter. When Peter arrived, Cornelius informed him: "We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God" (10:33). Peter then recounted the work of Jesus, showed that it was witnessed by the writings of the goodness and declared that "whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (verse 43).

When a person "believes" or has "faith" in the Bible sense, he is fully persuaded of the truth of those things which are taught in the Scriptures. Belief is based on knowledge -- in the absence of knowledge there is no true faith: and Paul makes the emphatic declaration, truly reasonable when all the facts are considered, that without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6). To believe He is "a rewarder" presupposes an understanding of those "exceeding great and precious promises by which we might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4). "Ye are saved by grace through faith" (Eph. 2:8); for, in the words of both Old and New Testaments, "the just shall live by faith"."

- John Carter
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God's Way
Chapter 10
The Way of Life
Part I - God's Conditions

Dutch translation / Nederlandse vertaling > Overtuiging voor de dingen die God beloofde

Spread love everywhere you go

"Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house.
Give love to your children, to your wife or husband,
to a next door neighbor ...
Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.
Be the living expression of God's kindness;
kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes,
kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting."
- Unknown

"Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man."
Proverbs 3:3-4

Your Words I want to instill into my heart
so that I can deform to your wishes.
Lord let my attitude be a picture of goodness,
frankness, kindness and unselfishness.

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Verspreidt liefde overal waar naar je toe gaat
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2013 update:
 

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Be happy that the thorn bush has roses

"Instead of complaining that the rosebush is full of thorns,
be happy that the thorn bush has roses."
- German Proverb

"Do everything without complaining or arguing,
so that you may become blameless and pure,
children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation,
in which you shine like stars in the universe"
Philippians 2:14-15

God, let me look perspective to life.
All the problems I encountered I want to overlook
and the beauty and goodness of your creation set against it.
That I may be just in your eyes
and may live impeccable according to your commandments.

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Wees blij dat de doornstruik rozen draagt

Growth in character

"We are to speak the truth in love; the body is to increase unto the edifying of itself in love.

There is to be more than growth in knowledge and in numbers within ecclesial life. Our characters must increase and develop and our personality traits often must be modified.

The ecclesia, with all its component parts, is supplied that we, individually and collectively, might come "unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11- 13). Love and persistence, forgiveness, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, wisdom, judgement, holiness, justice, integrity are all to improve for we are to "grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (v. 15).

This is a vital area of growth, for the saints of all ages are to be joint rulers of the world with Christ."
-------
Principles of Ecclesial Life - Growth in character
Brother Don Styles
http://www.christadelphianbooks.org/dstyles/poel/index.html

“Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers. Their task is to equip God’s people for the work of service that builds the body of the Messiah, until we all arrive at the unity implied by trusting and knowing the Son of God, at full manhood, at the standard of maturity set by the Messiah’s perfection. We will then no longer be infants tossed about by the waves and blown along by every wind of teaching, at the mercy of people clever in devising ways to deceive. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect grow up into him who is the head, the Messiah.” (Eph 4:11-15 Cjb)

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Groei in karakter

Kindness

Dutch version / Nederlands > Vriendelijkheid

"There is no exercise better for the heart
than reaching down and lifting people up."
- John Andrew Holmes

"… make every effort to add to your faith goodness;
and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control;
and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, Godliness;
and to Godliness, brotherly kindness;
and to brotherly kindness, love."
2 Peter 1:5-7

"Constant kindness can accomplish much.
As the sun makes ice melt,
kindness causes misunderstanding,
mistrust, and hostility to evaporate."
- Albert Schweitzer

"He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:8

Lord God, grant that I may be humble enough to help others.
Let me always do right and approach others with gentleness.
That I may be disarmingly friendly and constructive.

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2013 update:

Albert Schweitzer, Etching by Arthur William Heintzelman. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness

Dutch version / Nederlands > Bewaak goed in jezelf die schat, vriendelijkheid

"Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness.
Know how to give without hesitation,
how to lose without regret,
how to acquire without meanness."
- George Sand

"But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law."
Galatians 5:22-23

Lord, make that I can give freely.
Let the result of the light in me be that I only do what is good.
That in my heart I can bear love always
and that I can bring up tender pity, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,
which may be a model for a Christian.

2013 update:

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Your struggles develop your strengths

Dutch version / Nederlands > Uw strijd ontwikkelt uw sterke punten

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Prosperity discovers vice, adversity discovers virtue."
- Francis Bacon

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
2 Peter 1:5-8

Lord God, I am grateful that Jesus has conquered death for me.
Give me that I have the perseverance to surmount the difficulties of this world to overcome.
Let me always walk virtuous by the life in Christ Jesus' name, Amen.

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The giving and protecting God

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Psalm 84:11, New International Version

Dutch version / Nederlands > De gevende en beschermende God

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    God doesn't hold back on his goodness! In fact, the Father loves to give his children gifts. These gifts are all encompassing. These gifts are gladly given. How do I know? Three ways: 1) I've been repeatedly blessed; 2) I've seen what God has done to bless his people through the centuries; and 3) his Word promises this to be so.

    Father, I want to thank you for the many blessings you have poured into my life. I want to list several of them by name today. (Make your own list of things for which you are thankful.) Thank you most of all Father, for the gift of your Son and my Savior, Jesus. In his name I pray. Amen.

Let us become nothing, and Christ everything

SOMETHING TO CHEW ON

Have you ever observed who Jesus said had chosen the “better part”? - Mary, the woman who sat at his feet. When we are willing to spend time sitting at the feet of Jesus we will be the humble, holy Christians our Lord desires us to be. Let us observe two important steps in gaining a clearer understanding of the true relationship between humility and holiness.

 When the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian believers, he was writing with two main purposes in mind: first, to thank them for their generosity to the poorer saints, and second, because he had learned that dissension had arisen that threatened the very usefulness of the church at Philippi. Apparently this church had been divided and the believers had taken sides. A fairly quick survey of the book will indicate how Paul dealt with the problem. He refused to recognize the two factions and did not criticize the women who were at fault. Instead he tried to fill their minds with our Lord’s lowliness, humility, and longsuffering. The apostle had learned that the secret of the unity of the believers lay not in looking at the disease, but rather in fixing their eyes upon the physician.

 The second chapter of Philippians contains perhaps the clearest account of the self-emptying of Christ. For Paul, all spiritual life centres in Christ, and when he wishes to direct the believers’ minds to the great graces of meekness and humility, he can think of no better way than to present a broad outline of the story of our Master’s redemptive work as portrayed in his life and death on the Cross. So he writes, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not think to snatch at equality with God, but made himself nothing, assuming the nature of a slave, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” Philippians 2:3-9.

  Our Lord has given us an example by his earthly life that all can safely follow: Paul tells us that Christ “made himself nothing,” he “took the nature of a slave,” he was “made in the likeness of men,” “he was fashioned as a man,” he “humbled himself,” or as it could be better rendered, he abased and made himself low. Then he adds that Christ became “obedient,” showing that the supreme act of self-humiliation consisted in Christ’s voluntary submission to the final act of suffering death. In laying down his life Christ certainly humbled himself and showed the extent to which he was willing to go to save sinful, selfish man. We all need to wear the yoke of Christ and we should practice his humility. The great teacher says, “Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” He might have said, “Learn of me, for I can perform miracles which nobody else has ever performed.” He might have said, “Learn of me, for I am the most advanced thinker of the age.” But no: the reason he gave was because “I am meek and lowly in heart.” Mattew 11:29.

  We read in Scripture of three men whose faces shone - Jesus, Moses, and Stephen - and all are noted for their meekness and humility. We are told that on the Mount of Transfiguration the face of Christ shone. Moses after forty days of personal communion with God came down Mount Sinai with his face shining. And on the last day of Stephen’s life when he was being questioned before the Sanhedrin we read that his face was illuminated as the face of an angel. If our faces are to shine like this, then we must go down into the valley of humility, because it is this valley which will lead us to the Mount of Transfiguration.

  Perhaps one of the meekest characters in all history, apart from our Lord, was John the Baptist. John was the centre of attraction in Jerusalem and Judea. Thousands were streaming out into the desert to hear this great and powerful preacher. Hundreds had already been baptized by him. One day there came out from Jerusalem a very influential group, appointed by the chief priests to ask the wilderness preacher his identity. Was he Elias, or the Messiah, or this prophet, or that prophet? What a wonderful opportunity he had to pass himself off as the Messiah! But no! He could have said, “Haven’t you heard of me, I am the world’s greatest preacher.” But not John. Just notice what he did say. “Tell them I am Mr. Nobody. I am a voice to be heard and not to be seen, a mere signpost pointing to ‘The Way.’ In fact, I am here to proclaim the coming of him whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”

  David had learned the lesson of humility. In all of David’s psalms there is not a reference to the fact that he slew Goliath. Man’s tendency is to make himself bigger and bigger, but John’s attitude was: “I am just the signpost pointing out the way. The morning star fades away as the sun rises. He must increase, but I must decrease. Actually, he is the Bridegroom, I am just the Bridegroom’s friend.” Instead of elevating himself, he humbled himself. What a difference it would make if we could each gain this spirit and get behind the cross and be just a mere signpost pointing out “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” John the Baptist was very little in his own estimation, but before his birth the angel had stated he would be “great in the sight of the Lord.” And this was his greatness when he cried, “Behold the Lamb of God! I am nothing, he is all and in all.”

 The Arabs have a saying which goes something like this: “As the wheat and tares grow together it is very easy to see which the Lord has blest. The ears that have received the blessing bow their heads as the weight of the grain bends them over. But the tares with no fruit to bear, keep their heads high and erect above everything else.” Those who have the blessing of God and thus have the fruits of the Spirit as recorded in Galatians 5:22, “Love, Joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” will never be able to keep their heads high and erect in a boastful way.

 The showers, as they fall upon the mountain peaks, often leave them desolate and barren because the water rushes down into the fertile valleys below. If a man is proud and lifted up with vanity, rivers of God’s grace may flow over him, and yet leave him as dry and desolate, and unfruitful as the mountain peaks. Yet once the grace of Christ takes hold of a man, what a transformation takes place! Consider those ignorant, self-centred disciples before Jesus called them. In fact, right up until the night that the Lord’s Supper was instituted, they were striving among themselves as to who would be the greatest. But when the Holy Spirit came, there was a transformation. When Matthew writes, he keeps himself right out of sight. He reports the deeds of the other disciples, but when he refers to himself it is Matthew, “the publican.” Mark’s Gospel, which most commentators agree is really Peter’s version of our Lord’s ministry, contains only damaging statements about Peter, while the things to his credit are not referred to. Luke, although a doctor, keeps his name right out of sight, and John only refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” The poet summed it up this way:-

“All of self and none of Thee, Some of self and some of Thee,

Less of self and more of Thee, None of self and all of Thee.

  A Dr. Bonar once remarked that he could tell whether a Christian was growing or not. In proportion to his growth he would elevate his Master, and talk less of himself, and of his own importance. Can we not also consecrate ourselves and put the world and self beneath our feet, allow Christ to become all and in all? Let us become nothing, and Christ everything. May we nail self to the cross, and adopt as our motto - “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

 - John Aldersley