Dr Paul Allen

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic. 6:8, NKJV). Humility, like patience, is one of those virtues for which we would like to be known while not having to often express it. In Colossians 3:12, God commands Christians to put on humility and meekness, but this is easier said than done. To begin we must ask, What is humility? Webster defines humility as “being free from pride or arrogance; not proud or arrogant, not haughty or assertive.” One Greek lexicon explains it as “the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance.”  If Thomas Aquinas is right that pride is the root of all sin, every instance of putting on humility requires a corresponding death blow to the root. Therefore, the reciprocal act of putting on humility and putting off pride is a foundational part of the spiritual warfare that the believer has entered into. Here we must unders...

As Jesus moved from the obscurity of life in Nazareth and entered into public ministry, He carefully chose companions who would help in the work on which He was embarking. These companions would ultimately become the ‘first-fruits of a worldwide movement and be greatly used in God’s service. The men chosen were not the rich and famous. They were not from the elite political or religious circles in Israel. Instead, Jesus chose men from the lower stratum of society, men who were intelligent, hard-working, and willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of the gospel. John lived and worked in the town of Capernaum. He was a fisherman, earning his livelihood on the Sea of Galilee. He worked with his father Zebedee, his brother James and partners Simon and Andrew. His life was radically and irrevocably changed when Jesus called him (and James, Simon, and Andrew) to leave their jobs, for the vital work of winning souls for heaven. It is interesting to note that Jesus did not choose idle peo...

I’m sure you’ll agree that the types of outfits you sometimes see on the runways of the high fashion shows are…let’s face it… a bit freaky. You end up doubting whether anyone would wear such a thing. And you’d be right. Those are not clothes displayed for you to buy, you won’t find them at your local store. No, these outfits represent an art form. By contrast,  prêt-à-porter , or “ready to wear” clothes, refers to the branch of the fashion industry that puts on display the clothing that can be bought off the rack to wear. In the same way, Christians often speak of the virtue of humility as if it’s something that is unattainable. As if it were an artistic garment Christ modeled for us so that we could marvel at its beauty, but then move on to the practical clothing of virtues one can actually attain. But Christ didn’t model humility for art’s sake. He intended the garment of humility to be  ready to wear  by all Christians. And Peter tells us the same thing...

We have entered a new era of modern history. This era is marked by a gaping void of leadership, but also by an antipathy toward the very notion of leadership. What’s more, there is a growing trend that celebrates self-appointed leaders who have demonstrated a lack of integrity and to ignore and dishonor faithful, aged leaders whose integrity has been proven over the course of decades.  Leaders of courage and conviction are despised and leaders of compromise and concession are idolized. We now live in a world that applauds Chamberlains and mocks Churchills. If this were true only in the world, it would perhaps be more bearable, but sadly it is also true in the church and in the home. Some Christians have even gone so far as to insinuate that leadership is not a biblical category, suggesting that servanthood should displace the notion of leadership.  However, such a proposition not only creates a false dilemma but undermines Scripture, which teaches us that the role of...

If I Should Fall from Grace with God (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) If you haven’t figured it out yet let me encourage you to see something that will greatly help you. Not all of your ideas are good. Some of them are bad. And God will often let you flail and fail out there for very good purposes. And when you fail do not lose the opportunity to find grace in the midst of it. I believe this is especially important for pastors to understand. It’s one of the most important lessons I have learned in 16 years of pastoral ministry: failure is to be expected and learned from. I have misspoke, misstepped, and missed the mark in more ways than I can explain here. And failing hurts. Most of us of are afraid of it. Leaders in particular are afraid of failure since it’s always a bit more of a public spectacle. I’m not talking about moral failure that disqualifies someone from the ministry, but ministerial failure. It may sometimes involve sin, but more often it’s poor judgment or simply the ba...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia God ’s leadership principles are the complete opposite of man’s. Consider just one. If a man wants to go up then he goes up. If he wants to climb the corporate ladder then he climbs (often stepping on a good number of others in the process). If a man wants to sit in the most important chair at the banquet then he sits there. It’s as simple as that. But in God’s economy of glory the way up is not up; it is down. It is the one who sits in the most obscure chair in the room who may be asked to sit in the chief place ( Lk 14:7-10 ). It is the one who becomes the servant of all who will one-day be the most important in the kingdom ( Mk 10:43 ). It is not the one who practices role reversal that will be lifted up, but rather the one who submits to God’s orderly structures of authority ( 1 Pet 2:18-20 ). In God’s system the way up is down. No greater illustration of this principle exists than Jesus —who lowered...

Image via Wikipedia "He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. . . . and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." ( John 13:4-5 )   The Greek word usually translated humility occurs seven times in the New Testament , implying self-abasement and suggesting a meekness of spirit. In Greek literature , it was used to describe a slave's demeaning of himself before his master--an outward prostration, not an inward character trait.   The idea that a master would set aside his status and voluntarily become a slave was probably incomprehensible to the world of Jesus' day. Yet we are enjoined to "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : Who . . . took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" ( Philippi...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men, and he gives them to whoever he wishes. Leadership is a stewardship that is temporary and can be taken away; we are always accountable. God puts people in leadership . People love to follow humble leaders. There is a self-centeredness involved in leadership that is inherent - the question is how do we deal with this? We deal with this by waking up every morning and say, "the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and he gives them to whoever he wishes." Many of us have worked with leaders that get arrogant, that started out great and that are Christians , but they get so arrogant and it hurts them. Men and women get caught up in their own press release. Read Daniel chapters 4 and 5 about Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar . This story should liberate us as leaders - three words: Diligent  - If you are truly a leader called by God, and God put you where you are, then yo...

Image via Wikipedia One of the deepest theological and exegetical conundrums is found in Mark 13:32: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” We know that Jesus , touching on His humanity, was not omniscient.  But we don’t know how it could be possible for God the Son not to know. That may not be what Jesus is saying, but it sure seems that way.  This we do know, that it is a good thing from time to time for even the most astute theologians to find themselves giving this most astute answer to some hard questions: I don’t know. We know in turn that it takes rather a lot of pride to respond to this text how Harold Camping did: “Jesus did not know the day or the hour, but I do.” One did not need to dig deep into Mr. Camping’s mathematical calculations to find the problem. It was always out there for all of us to see, his pride. How he dealt with difficult apocalyptic texts, and how they inter-related...