ANNOUNCEMENT 1: Please check the new weekly segment following the bible commentary: From Addiction to Freedom by Favour Oyinloye. Or you can scroll immediately to it, I won't mind.
ANNOUNCEMENT 2: Going forward, beginning from Sept 1, I will add a segment to my thrice weekly newsletter. I call it weekly chant. You will get to hear the Weekly Chant (not music, because I am just repeating one or two phrases). The weekly chants are words and melodies I am hearing in my spirit.
Paul is pushing for the emulation of Jesus, and he would go ahead to highlight his humility and what comes after it.
You might say he is a fool to be so humble, to allow himself to be beaten black and blue, to be spat on by those he created, to be mocked, and to die. But when you see the way God rewarded him with the resurrection from the dead and the elevation into the highest place of dominion in all realms, let that minister to you that even though humility is stupid to men, it is precious to God, who repeatedly resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. We should see the virtue of humility.
But even beyond that, we should regard that whatever Jesus did and said was a good thing, just because He did it, because he is God. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He showed us the way so that we would follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:21).
Jesus is the head of the church. We cannot and should not come up with whatever ideas we like in the way we treat one another; we should not be gossips and slanderers; we should speak the truth; we should regard others as more important than ourselves, as expressed in the way we treat them.
Sometimes people don't think attitude is important. Someone can serve you food with a noxious attitude, and that makes the whole experience bitter even though the food is good. It's the kind of experience you avoid. That is the power of attitude. We have the book of Proverbs telling us some attitudes that a woman can put up that make the beauty actually look ugly.
Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout
is a beautiful woman who rejects discretion. (Proverbs 11:22)
To lack discretion simply means acting, speaking words without care, without circumspection, without consideration of the broader implications. She damns or does not care about the consequences.
And this woman is not just lacking in discretion; she is actively rejecting it. She looks at other women exercising discretion and actually despises them because of it. She calls them fools, even though she is the fool.
Like Esau found no value in his birthright and had a dismissive attitude towards it, so this woman described as a pig is beautiful and has allowed that to puff her up thinking now she has no need for discretion, maybe thinking, I can say whatever I like, go where ever I like, associate with whoever I like, and I will suffer no consequences because my beauty (or other kinds of possessions) makes me special.
Again, this is not a matter of ignorance, but an active rejection of the truth. She calls folly wisdom and wisdom folly. Discretion does not serve her twisted purpose of self-elevation, so she rejects it.
This is the woman who thinks I have to live on my own terms and be the center of attraction. She rejects discretion. She listens to teachers who tell her the virtues of discretion, but she calls them a fool in her heart and decides to make her life a gigantic experiment due to a lack of discretion. That makes her a danger to herself and the people around her.
Jesus took this illustration to apply to those who do not value the truth and have a dismissive attitude towards it. And says Don't waste your time with those kinds of people. He means it.
Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:6)
We can again apply that to that verse in Proverbs, how an attitude of lack of discretion makes them a danger to others, and you must avoid them at all costs.
And attitude is deeper than the skin; it is beyond getting a list of dos and don'ts. It goes deep into the thoughts and intent of the heart, as the book of Hebrews (4:12) says. It is beyond trying to mimic others.
That is why Jesus is being presented as an example, because what He did was not the putting on of an act; it was who He is deep within Himself. His thoughts are the thoughts of humility. He wasn't putting on an act.
There was no daylight between who he is inwardly and what he says and does. He was genuine and not, again, putting on an act, just to say, see I have done the right thing, so as to avoid blame. He is not trying to avoid blame; that is who he is.
Attitude is deeper than action. It fuels action.
Like I mentioned, if we are looking for an example of a man with the wrong attitude, we should look no further than Esau. He had a dismissive attitude toward the eternal and was rather focused on immediate gratification. He thought he was doing the right thing.
And see to it that no one becomes an immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that later when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, although he sought the blessing with tears. (Hebrews 12:16-17)
Welcome to a new weekly segment: From Addiction to Freedom by Favour Oyinloye
