Abase

Topics without scriptures:

Aaron; Aaron, Descendants of; Aaronic Priesthood; Abarim

So, to start out with - I needed to look up "Abase" in my handy-dandy pocket dictionary. Apparently it means to "humiliate or degrade." So my thoughts instantly turned to "Oh, this must be about humility!" However, I learned that humility actually has several parts to it - and abasing is just one.

The main sort of message that these scriptures seemed to be saying is that those who are brought low, or abased, are the ones that God will exalt - while those who seek to be exalted are the ones who will be abased. It is kind of funny how you get what you aren't really striving for as far as God is concerned - but maybe being "exalted" isn't what we think it means at first.

Those seeking to be exalted remind me of the people who built the Tower of Babble, or the Pharisees who prayed on the street corners to be praised by man. They wanted to get to Heaven, but they also wanted their definition of a "Heaven on Earth" that required everyone else to see what great followers of God they were. Let's face it - a giant tower is kind of hard to miss, and someone yelling out their prayers is kind of hard to ignore as you pass by. But the people who are the ones simply and anonymously going about worshiping God and trying to be the best people they can be are the ones who will be exalted by God. Personally, I think that they are in this life as well as in the next life.

Bringing this to our day and age - who are our role models? When we start thinking about marriage or dating - do we turn to the celebrities of our time for a perfect love story? Or to that 80 year old couple down the road who still hold hands when they walk into the super market? When I was a teenager I had an eye opening experience. I've always admired and idolized Madame Curie, so I decided to read a biography on her. Was she an amazing scientist? Yes. But she also had a messed up relationship with her daughters - according to this book. There is a quote that says "No amount of success can make up for failure in the home" - and my young mind was shattered by the reality that this great woman who I was trying to base my life off of actually turned out to be not quite the role model I was looking for.

Another point that I drew from the scriptures for this topic - is that when we share the gospel, our goal is to uplift them. In a lot of ways, we really do need to forget ourselves. Sure there comes a high when you do something good - but I guess in order to really let the Spirit in to do His thing (since He is really the teacher not us) you need to push aside any ego you have.

The last point I got is that even though we are suppose to live this kind of degraded life where we aren't seeking praise and exaltation - that doesn't mean that when God sends us blessing that we should reject them! There is a time and a season for everything, that includes a time to feel satisfied and secure. I guess it is a warning to not be so focused on living an aspect of how you interpret God's will that you reject what God is willing to give you.