Devotionals for the Heart: Humility

The Road to Humility
A devotional by Cherie Mendez

“Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than to pretend to be somebody and have no food.”—Proverbs 12:9 (NIV)

I love how King Solomon glorified the virtue of humility as stated in the verse above. His contrast here is both humorous and profound. He is saying it’s better to be humble if your humility is part of your success as opposed to trying to “appear successful.”

Every week I sit down to create content for Instagram. However, when life gets tough I want to hide. If I have nothing “impressive” to post then I’d rather not post at all. In today’s image-obsessed society, cultivating a humble heart can be very challenging. The world puts great emphasis on “the pride of life” which is thinking you are special because of what you have, what you know, and what you look like. It glorifies the rich and famous while the poor are often forgotten.

The pride of life also tempts us to focus on ourselves as opposed to focusing on God and serving others. It can create stress and anxiety because when we seek to be the best and don’t succeed, our desire to excel can turn against us. If we fail, it is very normal to become disappointed. But the pride of life can turn our disappointment into a sense of hopeless depression.

The road to humility doesn’t have to be a hard one. If we humble ourselves before God and admit that we need His guidance, He is faithful. Psalm 25:9 (RSV), says “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way.”

When we stand before God, we will not be judged by our worldly accomplishments. All that will matter is what we did with the gifts and talents He gave us. It’s great to be successful, but if our success becomes our identity, then it’s an idol.

The temptation to be proud is very subtle. We see it in the Garden of Eden. Eve’s mistake was to setting her sights on what God had commanded not to do rather than on what God had blessed her with such as all the other trees filled with life-giving fruit that He had allowed her to eat.

Here are three questions we can ask ourselves to help keep our hearts in check:

Question #1: Am I truly thankful for all God has given me?

Question #2: Have I acknowledged Him as the Source of all the blessings in my life?

Question #3: Am I careful to seek God daily on how to live a life that is pleasing to Him?

It’s amazing how being humble frees you from the need to impress people. There’s no need to be perfect or compare yourself to anyone. This brings me back to my constant challenge with Instagram. With every post I’m learning to ask myself, “What can I share today that will minister to someone?”

Most of the time it’s the trials and the things I don’t like to talk about that resonate most with people. It’s about taking my captions from a “me” post to a “we” post, showing gratitude to the Lord and the people in my life. It’s about my choosing to encourage others when it’s tempting to brag.

I believe that Micah 6:8 (RSV) says it best: “…and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” 

What will you choose today?

Song of Reflection: “King of Humility” by Justin Tweito. Listen to it here.

~*~
Author Bio:

Cherie Mendez is a New York-based actress and model. Network appearances include Blue Bloods and Bull (CBS), Power (STARZ), and Hunters (Amazon). 

She got her start in modeling at the age of 18 when she was offered a contract to work with an agency in Paris. Over time, she worked for clients such as Mary Kay Cosmetics, Clarins Skincare, Garnier, Lancôme, and Wella.

In recent years, Cherie has been sharing about her faith in God on Instagram where she has an audience of over 30k followers. She is compelled by love to encourage women to understand their identity in Jesus Christ.

It is her goal to bring to light what God’s Word says about our self-worth. She does this by sharing encouraging stories on how she overcame the many struggles that models and actresses typically face.

Some of the topics Cherie loves to write about are:

· Coping with rejection

· Finding your purpose and using your talent for God’s glory

· How God always looks at the heart and the meaning of inner beauty

· Understanding that we are all a work in progress and God is not done with us yet

Cherie and her husband Jimmy live in Upstate New York. They are thankful to have been married for 30 years.

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Connect with Cherie:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheriemendez/

Devotionals for the Heart: Rainbows

Rainbow Remembrances
A devotional by Sharon Musgrove

“And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.”” – Genesis 9:12-16 (RSV)

When I was a senior in high school, I took Physics. I was blessed to have a teacher who thoroughly enjoyed science and sought to share the understanding and joy of the laws of nature. In hindsight, the timing of that class, that teacher, and the struggles of that teen girl with her father, was like the pulling together of many ribbons to form a spectacular bow.

My father grew up in a house of boys and wanted boys of his own. Three girls were the gifts he received. Today I can have pity on my dad for not knowing what to do with all that estrogen, but that was not the emotion I had at the time. What my father did really well was pitching in and helping with school projects. Maybe he did it a little too well.

In Physics class, we were learning the Law of Refraction of Light and were asked to construct a poster-sized visual to demonstrate how white light disperses into a color spectrum when it passes through a new medium. In simpler terms, the assignment was to create an image that explained the science behind how rainbows are formed. To increase our excitement in the project, there was to be a contest and the winner would get an automatic 100 percent score on one test that term.

My dad was very excited about that project. He rented an artist’s spray gun and created the most authentic rainbow in the history of 12th grade science projects. I merely added to the poster, the mathematical equation in my neatest, black sharpie hand. Dad won, for his daughter, an “A” (grade) on the exam. All year long that poster was pinned to the front of the class, reminding me of what my father did for me.

Only the year passed. I graduated. The poster came down. Angry words and painful actions were exchanged between my father and me. Silence and distance grew between us. Enough years passed that my own children were nearing the age I had been when I was educated to the bending of light.

One rainy spring afternoon, I was driving through the valley when a rainbow appeared. In an instant, I remembered that rainbow painted poster. I pulled my car over and wept. In all of the years of not forgiving my father, I failed to remember the love of my dad. I’d only been keeping record of pain.

Centuries before, God the Father and man, His child, were separated by pain, anger and ugliness. In response, God intervened. He washed away that which was wicked and caused grief. Clouds carried a fresh medium to the sky in the form of rain. Light reached out to the rain and was not extinguished by it. The light touched rain and the light bent…curved in the tension…and became divided into something even more spectacular! God Himself, separated, and the parts became more spectacular! What a privilege to see in the physical Light divided into a spectrum of love! God saw that something was not good and He intervened. He changed the laws of nature to accommodate Himself!

Genesis 9:15 tells us that God looks at those rainbows too. Like a pinned poster, they are created for His remembrance as well as ours. To think that God and I can look on a rainbow together and be united in our love is truly a bow on a gift!

A rainbow from an aerial view is a full circle. Similarly, I’ve experienced the 360 degree, full-spectrum turning of relationship. I talked with my dad about the rainbow I saw that day and the reminder of the rainbow he painted for me, all those years ago. The relationship that had been moving apart, curved under a new tension, and has been returning to a place of unity all because God so loved the world.

~*~
Author Bio:

Sharon Musgrove is a self-proclaimed sociologist. The opportunities opened to her, over the years, have led her on a fascinating journey observing human behavior. 

She has a diverse background in business, fitness and health industries. This background led her to a unique position writing curriculum and teaching for two private, Christ-based, residential recovery programs. Both recovery programs served women primarily from the homeless community.

Sharon has traveled multiple times to Kenya, serving on medical teams and teaching in the rural Maasai communities. She's been privileged to participate in Leadership camps for maturing young women. These annual camps have a mission of encouraging and empowering the impoverished, underprivileged, and often abused young Maasai girls.

Easily identifying personally with the brokenness of the women she's served, Sharon now sees all people as needing more encouragement regardless of cultural or socioeconomic status. Within these ministries, Sharon has witnessed the transformative power of loving words spoken to the broken-hearted. Sharing God’s love and witnessing its transformative power has become her passion.

In her leisure time, Sharon enjoys her garden, health food, travel, and a good story. She and her husband, Jeff, make their home in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. They have two grown children. Currently, Sharon is writing her first Christian historical fiction novel utilizing her study, experience, and understanding of self-destructive behaviors.