Eating Humble Pie

This morning in Sunday School our Sunday School teacher taught from Ephesians 4:1-5 & 15-16. During the first couple of verses I realized that God was truly speaking to me. With recent events, as recent as Saturday, some drama continues to unfold. I have prayed to our Sovereign God about guidance and peace. I have asked many prayer warriors to send up prayers for struggles I have been facing. But this morning, God served me a BIG portion of HUMBLE PIE.

The title of the scripture is "Unity in the Body of Christ". To uncap or recall the events during Sunday School, I opened my Bible to the verses and began to read them to myself quietly. I began to realize that this was going to be an eye opener event. (A side note....I watched Soul Surfer and in one scene, a Youth Minister talked about getting a different perspective on life. This to me was God setting the stage and preparing the ingredients for my Humble Pie.)

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (vs 2-3) Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (vs 15-16)"

Without going in to much detail, there has been some family drama for a while. I have unfortunately been caught in the middle of it for some reason or another. I have tried to take different perspectives, bite my tongue, and let God's will unfold. However, as the verses tell us, I have not been humble, gentle, or patient. I wrote a simple note to my husband during Sunday School and said, "God is speaking to me through this lesson." My husband, knowing everything that has been going on, shook his head as if to tell me, God has been listening.

Our God is AMAZING and gracious to serve his children their own dose of Humble Pie. This weekend, I realize, I have not been patient, humble, or bearing with one another in love. I have been thinking primarily of myself. I have been complaining of the pain that has been pressed upon me, I have wept at times because the pain has become unbearable. I have attempted to "die to self" and let God's will preside over mine.

Humble Pie leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, a taste that will linger and often present itself once again when situations arise that led to the Humble Pie. I have thought that this lesson had come a little to late for me, and probably should have been spoken to me earlier. But God in His awesome timing, will prove to me that I heard the message just at the right moment. The anger and bitterness that is stored up in me with slowly disappear. The time will present itself when I have the opportunity to once again live by God's word. In those moments, I will remember the taste of this Humble Pie and remember Ephesians 4:2-3.

There are times when I feel that God is not listening or I am not receiving the message I want to hear. Today, that was not the case. God has been listening to my prayers and clearly outlined my next approach to situations through Ephesians. All though He does not tell us we should not address specific individuals about hardships or what have you, He does give us guidelines. God wants us to be patient with those indiviudals, be gentle with them when they are not gentle to you, humble yourself before them as Christ humbled himself on the cross. and speak the truth in love.

Go...take this message and gain something from it. We all deserve Humble Pie at times...today was my portion. May God bless you!!