CHARACTER
Wellington
Boone: Greatness Through Humility
By
The 700 Club
CBN.com –
Gordon Robertson: Joining me now is Wellington Boone to talk about
what it's like to live like Christ in the here and now. Welcome back to
The 700 Club.
Wellington Boone: Thank you. It is my pleasure.
Gordon: Why is humility so hard for us? It seems like as soon
as you say you're humble, you're not. What is it about that that makes
it so difficult for Christians to be humble every day?
Wellington: I think it's because they don't understand what it
is. Basically John the Baptist said it partially. He said, "I must decrease
and He must increase." Actually you must die and He must live.
Gordon: Why are we so reluctant to go there, though? The gospel
message is if you lay down your life, you will get more of it. But we
don't seem to want to go there. Why?
Wellington: They don't see a picture of what this life is all
about, and what is the benefit. This book is called The
Low Road to New Heights. I just left Denmark. They say we must
go to another level. I have to go higher up. With God, up is down. If
you humble yourself you will be exalted. The reason is that God knows
the best way for us. And if we yield ourselves to Him, He will show us
the best way. The goal, the destination is another level -- new heights,
and humility is that way.
Gordon: Do you think America is being humbled right now? I know
a lot of people are crying out and praying for revival, and our concept
seems to be let's have big meetings where lots of people get saved, and
you see miracles. But you have a different view of revival in your book.
What is that?
Wellington: I think it has more to do with lifestyle. Revival
actually starts with a person getting a kind of life that is Christ-like.
We think about goose bumps, and we think about God doing something outside
of us that is not really working inside of us. If you start looking at
what we will get rewarded for in the Great Day, it is the fruit. It says
you will know them by their fruit. We call fruit the size of the meeting.
We call fruit how large is the bank account and the mailing list. But
God calls fruit character and life style; humility, brokenness, contriteness,
unconditional love, perseverance, patience, loving someone who hates you,
and blessing somebody who curses you. There is a reason for that, though.
Because if the Lord really gives us true godly authority or true power,
if we are not carrying the character of Christ, we will use it to defend
ourselves. You can call that abuse of power. Revival is not just what
happens in a meeting. It is what happens in the heart that causes the
different kind of character.
Gordon: I know that we've seen tremendous results, and tremendous
meetings, and lots of people going forward, and that kind of thing. But
the reality is, of the people going forward, if you go back and measure
them 30 days, six months, a year, or two years you will find that they
have sort of fallen away. Why is that? Why is that phenomenon so prevalent
in the world today? What do we do about that? How do change that so that
we really are making disciples?
Wellington: I just believe our present information has brought
us to where we are now. If we're going to get to someplace different we
have to have new information. For example, when we talk about the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, "you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit
comes upon you to be My witnesses." The word power is the word dunamis,
but the word witness is the word martyr. We think the Holy Spirit comes
to give us power to cast out devils and heal the sick. But the word martyr
means the Holy Spirit comes to help you to die. Jesus died in the flesh,
we have to die to the flesh. The Holy Spirit will not raise anything that
is not dead. As a matter of fact, He comes to help us die to ourselves,
then Jesus' life can be raised up inside of us -- and we need models of
that.
So we
have to start teaching now that the Holy Spirit helps us to be Christ-like. Not
just the Holy Spirit helps us to get something else, or to demonstrate some other
realm of power so that people can get goose bumps. I believe in demonstration
power, gifts of the Spirit -- I believe in fruit, and all those kinds of things.
But the priority of the Lord is, He always works from the inside out. If we have
the character of Christ, what gift could He give us? If we are carrying His humility
how much power could we handle? So if we get the priority right, the truth is,
He does both at the same time. As we grow in character we find He uses us in a
more significant way. We're going to get rewards in the Great Day for character.
Gordon: Do you think America is being humbled right now? Are we
going through that dying process?
Wellington: I'm not afraid to say it. When this nation was established
you know they had the Bible in the one hand. And they wrote some of those
original documents with the Bible in one hand because they had a sense
of national accountability. And it started out if a person was to vote
they had to be a member of the church, and if they were a member of a
church they had to state publicly their commitment, and then they were
watched for weeks. We are afraid of that kind of accountability. I just
believe that America is being judged right now, and prophets -- I'm talking
about men of God -- have to be bold enough to stand up and say what we
are doing is wrong.
I talked to businessmen in Denmark and said the bottom line of business
is righteousness. The free market system without Christ as the bottom line doesn't
work. I don't care whether they learned the principles of economic manage from
America or not, if you don't have Jesus Christ as the bottom line, which means
integrity, you can forget it. When we start examining all of these communities,
from the religious community, to the economic community, to the civil community
-- what we are looking at is people who have the intellect to know how to work
numbers but not the character to know how to handle responsibility they're in.
Someone has to tell them, judgement is actually here. Until there is national
repentance, and until we learn brokenness -- I mean, I don't want my daughter
working for somebody who doesn't have character. And I don't want to have some
leader who doesn't have character modeling for my son. That's what I am talking
about. Judgement is here.
Gordon: You heard it, there is judgment at our door. Bishop, thank
you so much for being with us and bringing that word.
Wellington: Thank you.
Order your copy of The
Low Road to New Heights.
More from Spiritual Life
CBN IS HERE FOR YOU!
Are you seeking answers in life? Are you hurting?
Are you facing a difficult situation?
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
|