What Would You Bring to the Table?

If you’re applying for a job, you would be ready to explain what you bring to the table – what skills, what experience, or willingness to learn or character that shows a high level of commitment, etc. Last week when we began to think about the first of the Beatitudes (derived from a Latin word for blessing) which is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3), we noted that being poor in spirit is a basic characteristic of all who follow Jesus because we admit we are not good enough the way we are naturally, we cannot just follow our own intuitions and imaginations, and we can not remedy or cancel out the offense our sins have created against an infinitely holy God. So we present our emptiness before Him and trust Jesus to do for us what we are completely unable to do ourselves. He cleanses those who approach Him with such faith and transfers His righteousness to us so that we are reconciled to God and welcomed into His kingdom.

Think about how this can change your perspective on how you live. When you feel badly about your situation, when you feel as if you’ve failed – even in such a way that you have suffered irreparable loss, when you have suffered because of injustice committed against you and you can’t even imagine how life could be good again, realize that there is blessing involved in presenting your emptiness before God. When we realize and humbly admit our emptiness and inability to bless ourselves, if we are willing to hide in and confide in Christ, we can still find blessing.

The biography of pioneer missionary Darlene Deibler who served with her husband in New Guinea in the late 1930’s only to find herself interred in a Japanese labor camp when World War II erupted tells how she lost her husband, was mistreated, had to learn to eat worms, and was put in solitary confinement at an insane asylum.

One day Darlene caught a glimpse of a prisoner being slipped a banana from someone hiding in the bushes. At this she collapsed. She was alone, wasting away, and had no way of escape. With tears she expressed her emptiness before God. She told Him that she understood there was no help available for her, but she sang and worshiped Him because He deserves that since He is still perfect even when we are suffering. She did not know that the Japanese commander of her previous camp with whom she had shared the Gospel was acting to intervene on her behalf. Do you think he sent a banana? Ninety-two bananas showed up for her!

Her husband did not come back from being dead. She was not immediately released. But she was reminded that those who seek God in their emptiness will not be forgotten. It may not be until heaven that we can realize the extent of God’s blessing. But Jesus does not lie.