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To
Be Of No Reputation
Author: Jo-Anne Leroux
“Who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no
reputation, and 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.”
Philippians 2: 6-8
To be
of no reputation… no reputation: humble! This passage in Philippians holds a
key to our ability to do only as the Father shows us.
John
5:19 In our fallen state, we
care very much about our reputations. We want to have a good one.
Why? Because our acceptance by man depends upon it, not only for ourselves
personally, but for our ministries, jobs, friends and families. We pride
ourselves in our reputations.
Most
Christians do not have much trouble giving God the glory when things go well: a
person gets saved or has a breakthrough as a result of their ministry. But when
things don’t turn out, they will take on the failure as if they did something
wrong. This mindset is purely self-centered. What man perceives as a failure,
God does not. The Lord calls us to reap the souls of men for the kingdom, but
He also tells us when. The harvest must be ripe for the picking.
Revelation 14:15
For
our own good, the Lord allows us to follow the path that leads to misery and
death until we hurt badly enough to call out to be saved. Our fruit is soft and
ripe. If you are in this place be encouraged. God is about to take you to into
glory. As long as life is going tickety boo, however, we are not going to
change. Why would anyone want to die to self when they’re so comfortable? We
are like hard green fruit.
Any of
us who has even the smallest amount of love in our hearts, does not like to see
other people hurt. It’s distressing. In fact, often when we see someone
hurting, we also hurt. We will take on the pain of others to the degree in
which we are unhealed of our own hurts. Our natural response is to comfort
them, believing we are compassionate, hence alleviating their pain and ours.
Since the counterfeit appears the same as the authentic, we can remain in this
delusion until we are overwhelmed with the burden. Who is the Saviour?
If you identify with this at all, your fruit is getting ripe also. You are
about to surrender your reputation for good works and let the Lord work through
you.
“But the wisdom that comes from
heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of
mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
James
3:17 NKJ To be impartial and remain sincere, we must be willing to lay down
our need to be liked and risk rejection. There is a price to pay. “Remember
the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they
persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will
keep yours also.”
John 15:20
We
cannot know the will of the Father if we cannot allow the pain of separation to
ripen the fruit for the harvest. It’s all about source of supply. With the
freedom of no reputation, we can discern when the fruit is ripe or green. With
green fruit, we know to just shine the Son on it. But when it’s ripe, we can
use the sword of the Spirit to bring in the harvest. As we draw love from the
Father, our hearts fill and we experience a great compassion for the lost.
Although they may hurt, our hearts have love. Even without words, we can pour
out this supernatural Love and heal the wounded.
I will
share testimony with you on how the Lord has dealt with my reputation. There
are levels of freedom in shifting out of this, glory to glory. It’s big! It
all started in 1989 when I was extremely intent on spiritual growth, more out of
fear of returning to addiction than pure love of God. But the Lord is
merciful. He let me burn out on believing I was helping others. I seemed to
attract people who wanted someone to depend on. I was there for anyone who
wanted my ear or words of wisdom, including family….as if I had any to give.
One day, as I had overloaded myself, the Lord sovereignty removed the reward I
had been getting out of this and revealed my self-serving motive.
“You are feeding your ego
Jo-Anne,” He said to me. “You see yourself as superior and it makes you
feel important. The truth is that you are afraid they will abandon you if
they don’t need you.” His voice was almost audible it was so loud. I
was in shock! I had been using the counseling gift He had given me for my
own gain. I was corrupt. We corrupt spiritual gifts if used
for self-gain.
Mathew 7:21-23.
My repentance was like a new birth. I
felt so fragile. This was all I’d known for years. I’d become
a nurse because of it. I had to make a conscious decision to stay out of
the helping professions for a season for fear of returning to the old way.
It took about two years of walking this out before I felt solid. The
Lord says we will hate sin. The prospect of being exalted again just felt
plain lonely.
This
experience was what I would term a major correction from the Lord. But
we aren’t home-free yet. The manifestation of my reputation being at stake gets
more subtle. Another way of putting this would be to have an investment in the
outcome of a situation for the sake of a good rep. Jacques and I opened Still
Life Retreat in the spring of 1999 in answer to a direct call from the Lord. I
remember thinking that the Lord was now willing to entrust me with His children
since this issue has been dealt with.
Not so
fast Jo-Anne. After a few years of ministry, in which we definitively witnessed
the move of God in many lives, the Lord woke me up one day with a scripture
verse on my heart. "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the
Son of Man has no place to lay his head." Mathew
8:20 For two days this verse
repeated over and over in my head. I began to speak it out loud; sang it;
rhymed it. No other thought was present except this. Finally, I
asked the Lord what He was telling me. “You have to give me your desire
for the people on retreat to have breakthrough.” “Isn’t that a good thing
Lord?” “Yes, but you’ve got your reputation at stake again. If they
don’t get breakthrough, it’s a reflection on you, not Me.” Oh my!!
“Yes”,
He went on to say. “Give it up. Get out of My way and watch Me move. Give Me
this and I will promise you that everyone who crosses this threshold will
receive a touch from Me.” Whoa !!! I let go. The third morning I woke up and
the verse had changed. "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but
the Son of Man has a place to lay his head." Jesus was true to His word
and I experienced a new depth of freedom and glory. It’s exciting and restful
all rolled into one, when we let go, and let God.
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