Truly Humble

Tzi Freeman wrote: "The truly humble person is not one who feels worthless or inferior. True smallness is what happens when a person stops thinking, 'What will be with me?' and instead thinks, 'What is needed of me right now?'" The quote challenges us to think of others as opposed to self. The world encourages you to "look out for number one." The focus is on your happiness, your prosperity, or your well-being. However, the Hebraic approach focuses on assisting others. Yeshua (Jesus) was the master of Hebraic thought and practice. He said, "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, all your body shall be enlightened. But if you eye is evil, all your body shall be darkened. If, then, the light that is within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Yeshua is speaking idioms. He is saying that if you are stingy, you are in darkness. To the contrary, if you are generous with others, you are full of light. Yeshua also said, "Give to him who asks of you, and from him who wishes to borrow from you, do not turn away." He is advocating a lifestyle of focusing on the needs of others.

Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Hillel both believed in the importance of the command found in Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 19:18: "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am YHWH." Yeshua taught that it was the second greatest commandment: "And the second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commands hang all the Torah and the Prophets." Yeshua was not eliminating the balance of the Torah and Prophets by His declaration. He was teaching that loving YHWH with all your being and loving your neighbor as yourself were like a curtain rod from which everything was hung from. When we obey the dietary rules, we do so because we are showing our love to YHWH. When we take care of the injured like the Samaritan did, we are demonstrating our love for our fellow man. The emphasis must be on caring for others and not ourselves.

If followers of YHWH would obey this command, we would see real evangelism. Forget the fancy evangelism kits and the "flavor of the month" gimmicks to lure the unchurched to hear the gospel; if we will just obey the commandments, our light will reveal the truth of the gospel to all that are within our scope of influence. The challenge is: what is needed of me right now? Look around. It will not be difficult to answer, The difficulty will be whether we are willing to live it.