Today’s Truth
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6, NIV).
Friend to Friend
C.S. Lewis called pride a “spiritual cancer” that devours love and contentment. Pride is a sign of our own insecurity and feelings of inferiority. Pride and inferiority are actually opposite sides of the same coin and are both sin, a preoccupation with self that leaves little room for God’s spirit of humility.
We all struggle with pride and must constantly battle the tendency to measure every circumstance and relationship against the narcissistic viewpoint of “What’s in it for me?” Pride has no place in the life of a Christian because pride steps between God and us. To think that God stands in opposition against prideful people is a strong and sobering statement that should send us all running to the place of humility. Because He is a loving Father, God opposes pride, in part, for what it does to His children. “Pride will destroy a person; a proud attitude leads to ruin. It is better to be humble and be with those who suffer than to share stolen property with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19). Learning to deal with pride is an important and essential part of spiritual growth.
Pride will prevent us from seeing others as God sees them. Pride will hold us back from laying down our expectations and rights in order to reach out to those who cross our path. Pride will slowly erode the humble spirit God so wants to see in His people and in their relationships. I suspect that a good dose of humility would cure many of our failing marriages, broken family relationships and struggling friendships. Then the question becomes, how can we eliminate pride and prevent it from carving out a destructive stronghold from which relationship problems arise. The answer is found in a passage of scripture written by the apostle Paul and directed to the church in Rome.
Romans 12:3 -6;10 “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
Paul certainly understood what it meant to struggle with pride. Before his encounter with Christ, Paul had been a man of great arrogance. After all, he was a power broker in the Roman government as well as a highly regarded and chief persecutor of anyone following Jesus Christ. Little did Paul know what the road to Damascus held for him that day when God interrupted Paul’s life with His blinding love and His unparalleled power. Everything changed. Paul became a humble man, the walking definition of a servant, delighting in his new role of striving to be last among the least. Paul understood that he was a trophy of grace; that his heart had been captured by grace and his life completely transformed in the process. God’s grace was Paul’s starting place and finish line and the very reason Paul was so humble and so powerful. It is such a paradox in God’s economy of life that in order to be strong we must choose weakness and in order to be first we must be content with last.
The amazing truth is that grace is ours for the asking. God stands ready to pour His priceless grace into every heart and soul while watching grace work to generate an unexplainable peace, eternal life, unending joy, and freedom from sin through unconditional love. Grace offers us the riches of God, at the expense of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross.
Pride’s goal is to make us independent of God, duping us into believing that we are in control of our own fate and are able to call our own shots. What audacity we possess as humans to think we can live life on our own when, whether we admit it or not, we are totally dependent on God and even our very next breath is a gift from His hand. Pride convinces us that we can play God, worshipping ourselves while erecting false idols shrouded in rebellion and sin. Pride is the universal religion of hell and a deadly poison. It’s antidote? Grace.
A friend told me about a new product she found listed online. “Disposable Guilt Bags” first appeared in a few select stores to test the market. I could have told the inventor that guilt exists in abundance and that people will go to any lengths to assuage their guilt. My friend explained that you could buy a set of Disposable Guilt Bags, ten ordinary brown bags on which were printed the following instructions: "Place the bag securely over your mouth then take a deep breath and blow out all of your guilt. Close the bag and dispose of immediately.” The amazing part of this story is that the Associated Press reported that over 2500 kits had sold immediately at $2.50 per kit.
Nothing on this earth is powerful enough to erase guilt. We try to “fix” ourselves but fail. The only power that makes it possible to be forgiven is God’s grace. “In Christ we are set free by the blood of his death. And so we have forgiveness of sins because of God's rich grace” (Ephesians 1:7). When our lives are lived against the backdrop of grace, pride will die from a lack of attention.
Let’s Pray
Lord, please forgive my arrogant heart. I am so sorry for the pride I see in my life. Today, I ask You to search my heart and destroy the strongholds of pride and ego. Help me to recognize prideful thoughts and actions in my life. Give me the discernment to be honest and transparent before You and before others. I, too, am a trophy of grace. Help me to live like one.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Self directed effort is the best kind, from Seth Godin's Blog...
How much are you paying for a drill sergeant?
Perhaps you can burn 500 calories on the treadmill before you give up for the day. With a personal coach, though, you could do 700. The trainer gets you to exert more effort.
You wake up on a Monday morning after a long hard weekend of misbehaving. You have a splitting headache. You can easily call in sick, no one will freak out. But then you remember that there's a $500 bonus at stake if you keep your attendance perfect. You make the effort because someone else is bribing you.
On the playground, it's tempting to rip into a kid who stole the swing from you. You're about to whack him, but then you see your mom watching. With a great deal of effort, you walk away.
Effort's ephemeral, hard to measure and incredibly difficult to deliver on a regular basis. So we hire a trainer or a coach or a boss and give up our freedom and our upside for someone to whip us into shape. Obviously, you give up part of what you create to the trainer/coach/boss in exchange for their oversight.
Has it become a crutch? Are you addicted to a taskmaster, to someone else's to do list, to short term external rewards that sell your long-term plans short? If no one is watching, are you helpless, just a web surfing, time wasting couch potato? Who owns the extra work you do now that you're being directed?
There's an entire system organized around the idea that we're too weak to deliver effort without external rewards and punishment. If you only grow on demand, you're selling yourself short. If you're only as good as your current boss/trainer/sergeant, you've given over the most important thing you have to someone else.
The thing I care the most about: what do you do when no one is looking, what do you make when it's not an immediate part of your job... how many push ups do you do, just because you can?
Perhaps you can burn 500 calories on the treadmill before you give up for the day. With a personal coach, though, you could do 700. The trainer gets you to exert more effort.
You wake up on a Monday morning after a long hard weekend of misbehaving. You have a splitting headache. You can easily call in sick, no one will freak out. But then you remember that there's a $500 bonus at stake if you keep your attendance perfect. You make the effort because someone else is bribing you.
On the playground, it's tempting to rip into a kid who stole the swing from you. You're about to whack him, but then you see your mom watching. With a great deal of effort, you walk away.
Effort's ephemeral, hard to measure and incredibly difficult to deliver on a regular basis. So we hire a trainer or a coach or a boss and give up our freedom and our upside for someone to whip us into shape. Obviously, you give up part of what you create to the trainer/coach/boss in exchange for their oversight.
Has it become a crutch? Are you addicted to a taskmaster, to someone else's to do list, to short term external rewards that sell your long-term plans short? If no one is watching, are you helpless, just a web surfing, time wasting couch potato? Who owns the extra work you do now that you're being directed?
There's an entire system organized around the idea that we're too weak to deliver effort without external rewards and punishment. If you only grow on demand, you're selling yourself short. If you're only as good as your current boss/trainer/sergeant, you've given over the most important thing you have to someone else.
The thing I care the most about: what do you do when no one is looking, what do you make when it's not an immediate part of your job... how many push ups do you do, just because you can?
Friday, May 6, 2011
God protects his people
Israel's future
In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine. Joel 3:18 NLT
Live in God's Blessing
After all is said and done, what does it look like when God's restoration is complete? How does the blessing of God's redemption manifest itself when he's finished reinstating his people?
When we move away from God and disobey his commands, he brings us under his hand of discipline. His purpose is to keep us from harm and to bring us back into communion with him. He restores our blessings, even greater than before.
The prophet Joel described it like this: "In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. Water will fill the dry streambeds of Judah, and a fountain will burst forth from the Lord's Temple, watering the arid valley of acacias.…Judah will remain forever, and Jerusalem will endure through all future generations." (Joel 3:18-21).
Simply put, it looks like heaven on earth: God's people living in the light of God's blessing, moving in his will, bathing in his mercy, feeling his presence, singing his praises, experiencing his glorious love. When we live the way God wants us to live, he brings blessings too great to describe. He shelters and defends us. He provides for our every need. He hears our prayers and answers them. He resides among us.
It's hard for so many of us to imagine that because we live so much of our life in rebellion. God doesn't want us to spend our life under his hand of discipline — he has much greater plans. If only we could learn to rest in his love and give ourselves over to his perfect will. That's when we would know firsthand that God's provision and goodness are far beyond anything we could expect or imagine.
Adapted from Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins and Frank M. Martin, Tyndale House Publishers (2004), entry for March 1
In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine. Joel 3:18 NLT
Live in God's Blessing
After all is said and done, what does it look like when God's restoration is complete? How does the blessing of God's redemption manifest itself when he's finished reinstating his people?
When we move away from God and disobey his commands, he brings us under his hand of discipline. His purpose is to keep us from harm and to bring us back into communion with him. He restores our blessings, even greater than before.
The prophet Joel described it like this: "In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. Water will fill the dry streambeds of Judah, and a fountain will burst forth from the Lord's Temple, watering the arid valley of acacias.…Judah will remain forever, and Jerusalem will endure through all future generations." (Joel 3:18-21).
Simply put, it looks like heaven on earth: God's people living in the light of God's blessing, moving in his will, bathing in his mercy, feeling his presence, singing his praises, experiencing his glorious love. When we live the way God wants us to live, he brings blessings too great to describe. He shelters and defends us. He provides for our every need. He hears our prayers and answers them. He resides among us.
It's hard for so many of us to imagine that because we live so much of our life in rebellion. God doesn't want us to spend our life under his hand of discipline — he has much greater plans. If only we could learn to rest in his love and give ourselves over to his perfect will. That's when we would know firsthand that God's provision and goodness are far beyond anything we could expect or imagine.
Adapted from Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins and Frank M. Martin, Tyndale House Publishers (2004), entry for March 1
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