2639AFC092526 – Metanoia and BHLJ  ← PODCAST LINK 🙂

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Philippians 2:3-5 (GNT) [1] – ³ Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. ⁴ And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own. ⁵ The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had (in other words – BHLJ)

Psalm 25:4-5 – (GNT)
⁴ Teach me your ways, O Lord;
    make them known to me.
⁵ Teach me to live according to your truth,
    for you are my God, who saves me.
    I always trust in you.

Ezekiel 18:25-28 – ²⁵ Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? ²⁶ When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. ²⁷ Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. ²⁸ Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die.

Matthew 21:32 (GNT) – ³² For John the Baptist came to you showing you the right path to take, and you would not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. Even when you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.

Aloha nui loa, Adelphoi! (Much love to you, Brothers and Sisters) Last week I was reviewing the configuration of previous posts over the years and came across one from 2014 that really caught my attention. It was called 1439AFC092614 – Duplex Grace. I've only just sat down to work on this post, but I suspect there may be pieces from that post that will be worked into this one. In addition, you may or may not remember the Key Verse icon for this week as something that showed up in 2509AFC022825 – A Daily Life Spent Without Evident Greatness, but only as outlines of the keys. I just want to let you know up front, we’re going to use some [hopefully] familiar wording. But first I need to say a few words about Lowell.

Hurricane Lowell

The Hawaiʻi Chapter of the Todd Tribe fared well during and after the storm. We had minimal damage to the house, the winds picked about 80 pounds of avocados for us – which all became ripe at the same time – blew over and uprooted some shrubbery. We had full power back within 3 days, which was something of a miraculous Gift! Beat almost half the leaves off of my Velvet Seed Tree, so maybe no velvet seeds this year. 🫤 We were saddened to learn that two men on the North Shore died during the storm. On the west side of the Island, the road to the summit of Waimea Canyon and the Kokeʻe State park was decimated. Trees large and small were snapped and tossed like kindling for the stove. Beautiful trees downed and ruined. What trees stayed standing were stripped of leaves, some had the bark blown off as in the Iniki storm on 9/11/1992. As of Sunday, September 20, 2026 @ 1308, about 4-5% of the island – especially remote villages on the north shore, still do not have water and electricity. MANY houses were damaged or completely destroyed. All that was in those houses counted as ruined. Some neighbors just up the road from us did not get power until after 7-10 days. So, the Todds suffered little, but the Island suffered much. Please, continue to pray for us – especially the North Shore where there remains significant damage. Thank you and   Bless you! Note: We’re expecting another MAJOR weather event this weekend!!

BHLJ

Now, do we recall what BHLJ means? Anyone? Alrighty then, someone spoke up. BHLJ is Be Humble Like Jesus. Are we? Can we? Should we? Must we? If YES, then because why?? There is a prayer often mentioned by “famous Christians” – who like us, are also broken people – like Saints, and Popes, and by ordinary Christians who know its benefits: “Jesus, Meek and Humble of Heart, make my heart like unto your heart.” Now, that’s an OH NO!/OH WOW! kind of prayer!! OH NO because we are all aware that the Salvation we seek is not something we deserve. It is a Gift which we can either choose to receive or choose to ignore, so being humble like Jesus is a Big Deal. It’s and OH WOW! kind of prayer because, … well, because being humble like Jesus is a Big Deal. If our hearts could truly be like unto (same-same) his Heart, what a different world this would be! How many attitudes and behaviors would each of us have to change in order to have a heart like unto His Heart? And where would we start? (← Music Link Try this for starters)

Let's begin by taking a closer look at that quote from Philippians. In context, and looking at the structure, the prepositional phrase "in you" doesn't mean "amongst you" but rather "in you," that is in your, my, our own heart and soul. Walk the walk, talk the talk, live the life. It is the original and ultimate WWJD challenge (← Check it out!). Jesus told his disciples they would do what he did and be able to do even more. (See John 14:12) That's kind of the OH-NO part; it's asking for a lot of faith – the kind of faith that tosses mountains into the sea like a beach-ball from the end of the pier. Jesus says, though, that it only takes a tiny pinch of faith – about the size of a mustard seed – to do that. By those measurement standards, sometimes I feel that my own personal faith in Christ is somewhat less than the size of that mustard seed – more like something … sub-atomic! So, there’s a look at Be Humble Like Jesus.. How about metanoia? Shall we do a short review?

Metanoia ~~

The word used by John and Jesus for repentance is μετάνοια – a noun for repentance. It is a change of heart, a change of mind, or a change of direction as in a one-eighty turn. A closely-related word is μετανοέω – metanoéō – a verb meaning to repent. Both come from the same root meanings meta - above, beyond, higher; and noein to think from nuos – mind. So, metanoia is to move beyond where our hearts and minds are, and to live in a new paradigm, a new way of thinking, and feeling, and seeing everything in life. It is also the kind of personal epiphany that enables in us the capacity for repentance – metanoia is like seeing things so differently that we see and understand our faults (perhaps a source of our sins), and our behaviors (perhaps the occasions for our sins).

Repentance is something we all need. We know we need it when we feel guilty, yet we often resist it. The Bible tells us to confess our faults to one another as part of offering our prayers – and our worship – in faith. Guilt and Repentance are inextricably linked to humility. It takes humility to recognize guilt and it takes humility to repent of that for which we feel guilty. Could one ever be so humble so as not to feel guilty – ever? Well, I know of a few examples.

†      Enoch – He “walked with God and was no more, because God took him” (See Genesis 5:24)

†      Moses – He was more humble than anyone else on the face of the Earth. (See Numbers 12:3) AND YET HE STILL REBELLED

†      Mary – the Mother of Jesus is believed to have been preserved from Original Sin (The Immaculate Conception) and was devoid of personal sin all through her life. Her fiat was the measure of her humility.

†      Jesus – God's Only Begotten Son lived and died without sin. He is described as “The New Moses." He made his exodus on the Cross to lead God's people to Heaven.

There is no need to repent if there is no sense of guilt; but that presumes we have a sense of guilt. These days it often seems that the only thing we feel guilty about is … feeling guilty. We feel badly when we are guilty and frequently deny having done anything wrong so we will not have a sense of guilt or look guilty to others. When we do something that is clearly wrong, we explain it, we excuse it, but we do not seek expiation. We expect that we can keep our misdeeds secret from others – including God – but at the same time we know that God knows what we did, and certainly we know what we have done, so if two people already know about it, we surely don't want others to know. As a result, we lie about it, we cover it up, we pretend it's only “human nature;” just a harmless infatuation, nothing will come of it; only the growing-up process; only experimentation, not addiction; only a bad habit we sort-of-eventually-hopefully-possibly will replace with a good habit. HA! And all the while we just keep sinning away as if whistling in the graveyard really worked.

What is a sin?

So when we are talking about repentance, guilt, and humility, we can't really get there without talking about sin. What is sin? "Well, I don't know what it is per se, don’t you know; but I know it when I see it." And we hypocrites know it when we do it! We self-righteously condemn sinners, including ourselves, when we say we don't know if such-and-such is a sin. Of course we know it's a sin! How? We feel guilty! What, then, does SIN mean? What Biblical words can we use to identify it? In the Old Testament is  - חטאה chatta'ah {khat-taw-aw'}. In the New Testament it is ἁμαρτία hamartia {ham-ar-tee'-ah}. In both cases the word means to get off the path, to lose the way, to wander off the right path. Another word used is ἔνοχος enochos {en'-okh-os}, under penalty, worthy of punishment, guilty.

SIN is what we do wrong that we cannot completely deny or excuse because it offends the most basic instincts of goodness in us, that basic goodness The Apostle Paul cited in Romans 2:14-17 when speaking of the gentiles – They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness. Awareness of good and evil, sin and remorse for it – these are all written on our hearts. And yet we still must confess and repent, and that often seems hard to do and even easier to avoid. It is a conundrum.

Then what is the answer?

John the Baptizer and Jesus said we must repent, turn around, have a metanoia. How in the WORLD do we do that? it must be done in this World so as to be ready for the next WORLD. John the Baptizer, and Jesus, and God the Father. and the Holy Spirit, and all the prophets, and both the Old Law and the New Law, the Old Covenant and the New Covenant have only one word to answer that question:

How does he LOVE you, LOVE me, LOVE us? With Perfect Peace. With Total Joy. Completely. Unconditionally. Eternally. He knew us before we were formed in our mother's womb, and he knew us because he created us, and he created us because he loved us, and he loved us because he is LO💓E. In Ecclesiastes 11:5 we read, " ⁵ Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything." We are known by him before, during, and after we have life, and the life we have comes from the Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life. The same Lord who lays down his life for his friends, who is meek and humble of heart, who never, ever had to experience metanoia because he never, ever has to repent – than, now, and always – and we, as Disciples, are called to Be Humble Like Jesus..

Our Key Verses explained

Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves  And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own. Be Humble Like Jesus..

Teach me to live according to your truth, for you are my God, who saves me. I always trust in you. Be Humble Like Jesus..

Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die. Be Humble Like Jesus..

For John the Baptist came to you showing you the right path to take, and you would not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. Even when you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him. Be Humble Like Jesus.

In other words, Repent and believe – then live – the Gospel!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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