The theme to discuss and read about this week was 'rebellion'...

I read / listened to several things this week that I want to post about, but none so important as this book:

Humbled by David Mathis

When I saw the prompt and read the challenge, some titles came to mind, subjects that I have been so excited to either read about or revisit.  But as I sat down to make a plan I remembered this book and knew this was where I needed to start.  It is completely counter-cultural to pursue (or more accurately accept) humility.  And as I pondered what this week means (it is Holy Week) - what today means (it is Good Friday), I knew this was where God was calling me to spend some time reading, thinking, and repenting.

How do you rebel against cultural expectations and instead of the building up of and proclaiming of your voice, your accomplishments, your platform...how do you lower yourself, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God?  Realizing, accepting, living in light of the truth - I am not God.  I am helpless to fix my heart, cover my sin, extend the life of myself or anyone that I love one moment more than what their days are marked to be.  I might be able to fool some people (worst of all myself) and pretend that I am more than I am, but when I pull out the Word of God, when I quiet my heart to the truth of who He is, when life comes at me hard and fast and seasons lay me low - I can no longer pretend.  The only option is to humble myself or break against the truth of the Word of God.  

This book is a small, but mighty tool of truth.  Mr. Mathis asks so many good questions, he has a knack for saying what needs to be said.  I will be going back through this book, in fact I am writing a small study guide to help me process what he teaches (I have learned through the study Kari Denker wrote, how important it is to think about and process what we read and for me that means writing it down).  I do not want to say "Oh that is SUCH a great book" and rush off to the next one in my stack, forgetting most of what I read. But instead, I need to ponder and chew upon what Mr. Mathis wrote, letting it work in my heart.

I will end the post with this verse - someone quoted it in the comment section of Studies on the Sermon on the Mount (the Kari Denker's Beatitude study) and it has since come up over and over and over again :

Philippians 2:7 &8 - He emptied Himself.  This is what humility looks like.