Of no reputation, Jesus made Himself,
It was a deliberate, wilful act,
He avoided the limelight whenever He could,
On all fame, He always turned His back.
When His mother wanted to push Him forward,
“Mine hour is not yet come.” He said,
But the next thing, He turned the water into wine,
As He waited on His Father, to be led.
We want others to know, when our performance is good,
When we consider that we have done well,
With a feeling of pride, bursting inside,
We cannot wait, others to tell!
But this is the place to wait on the Lord,
And to humbly recognise this pride,
It is better to talk of where we’ve come short,
And the things in which we’d boast, to hide.
This is not false humility,
Pretending to be humble inside,
God would call us “a whited sepulchre,”
Full of “dead men’s bones,” and lies!
There’s something wrong when we cannot wait
To tell others what we’ve done,
This is the place to humbly stay silent,
And our reputation to shun.
Why do we seek the praises of men?
Pride before a fall, reaches its peak,
Man seeks a glory he cannot maintain,
And loses all that he would seek.
Jesus went up a mountain to pray alone,
No one knew what He said,
He communed with His Father, when others slept,
A secret life, with the Fountain Head.
So, there were secrets Jesus kept to Himself,
God gave Him the strength to battle on,
Jesus would not reveal them to His closest companions,
They were secrets between God and His Son.
They prepared Him for the greatest moment in history,
For the salvation of mankind on the Cross,
The crowds singing, “Hosanna!” was meaningless to Him,
His Father had prepared Him to suffer loss.
The closer we draw near to our Father,
The more intimate will our private walk become,
For there is a communion we can never divulge
To family or friend, a secret with our Father and His Son.
God will only reveal His secrets when He can trust us,
Never to share our walk with Him abroad,
Adam communed with God in the Garden of Eden,
But broke trust and found a flaming sword.
Our walk will never be at our initiative,
Our safety is to comply with His Holy Word,
We cannot explain to all and sundry,
Our walk’s with the One Whose guidance we’ve heard.
He that exalts himself shall be abased,
But he that humbles himself shall be exalted,
Jesus took on Himself the form of a servant,
And Heaven’s highest place unto Him was extended.
We’re told, “Let this mind be in you.
Which was also in Christ Jesus,
Who being in the form of God,
Thought it not robbery to be equal.
“I can of Mine own self do nothing,” He said,
But He sought not His own will, but that of His Father,
He humbled Himself, became obedient unto death,
And God has highly exalted Him rather.
God gave Him a Name above every name,
No being has done more for mankind than He,
“Think not more highly of yourself than you ought!”
Jesus showed us the way – to the highest degree!
So let us not seek a place of repute,
Like Jesus, make ourselves of no reputation,
And when in life we have to make a choice,
Let us always take the lowliest station.
Peter Burt
GOSPEL CRUMBS 