Lately God has put something on my heart... pride.
Pride is harmful. Pride is dangerous. Pride is unkind. Pride is deadly (notice I didn't say it "can be"... it is).
God has allowed me to recognize, in certain areas in my life, where pride is present. For this I am thankful! Without God's help, without His presence we would perish on this earth. Period. The devil could crush me like a toothpick if God didn't protect me and hold him back. I've had many opportunities this week to meet with men of God and speak with them about His glory. After speaking with them only the 1st week of many weeks to come, I already feel I can physically breathe better! I promise! I feel like I can take a deep breath and know that everything is going to be okay. I've been in that mindset most of my life, but not like now. It's different than what it has been.
A fellow brother and I have agreed to hold each other accountable on the subject of pride. We are going to face our problem head on with the Lord by our side!
I have many issues with pride:
1. Pride holds me from helping others. When I see someone on the side of the road, I can make one of two decisions. Help them or not. For the most part, I choose not to help them. It is because of pride. I say in my mind "Why should I help them when I'm smart enough to fill my gas tank when it gets so low?" Brothers and sisters, this is the wrong way to handle that situation.
Before Jesus ascended back into heaven, he gave us a new commandment. It comes out of John 13:34 - "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another." Again in verse 35 - "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
The right way to handle the situation is obvious: Stop and help!
A lot of times I find myself scared to help though... What if they pull a gun on me? What if they rob me or take my money? I have a family now. I can't jeopardize my life like that... Or can I? Is an act of love jeopardizing your life? I think not. I have to put away that fear, and reach out a hand of kindness and help them... love them - in the name of Jesus Christ! God is with me, so why should I fear helping others?
I tell you the truth when I say I was scared out of my wits the one time I did help someone... I won't go into details, but I was so scared about doing it. I let the person into my car, helped them with their problem, and dropped them off at their very own doorstep and said goodbye. When I pulled out of their driveway, I felt such an emotion I had never felt before. Love. Obviously, I had felt love before. I love my wife, and soon, my very own son Josiah. But this, this was a different kind of love. A love you can only feel when you assist another human being in getting to where they need to be. A love you can only feel when you really help out someone. It felt amazing. It felt great. That person knows that there is someone in the world who stopped, in the dead of the night, to reach out and extend a hand of love to them. It made them feel good, and it made feel good.
It's hard to say I've only helped out someone one single time like that. I wish I could invite more people into my car and help them in such a loving manner as I did that person. So why not? I'll tell you: Pride. It all goes back to pride.
2. Pride hinders me from humbling myself and becoming a servant to others.
When Jesus was in the upper room with His disciples, He did something that humbled himself before them. John 13:3-5 - Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
This act of kindness is a wonderful way to humble yourself before others. When you humble yourself like this, your pride will disappear! It's amazing! Amanda and I have washed each others feet before and I tell you, it felt amazing. I felt as if I was showing her love (there's that word again!) like never before. To be her boyfriend, and her my girlfriend, when we did that it was definitely one of the greatest acts of kindness we did for each other! It was absolutely wonderful.
The Bible says in Matthew 18:3,4 "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
To be a child means you have no hope whatsoever. You can't feed yourself, you can't drive yourself anywhere. You may be able to walk, but you won't know where you're going! You can't even change your own diaper! No one in the kingdom of heaven enters in without humbling themselves like a child. To be a child means to put away your pride. Children have no pride, so for you to be like a child is to humble yourself, and be as a servant to others and put away your pride. Put it away for good!
3. One last issue I will share with you that I have with pride is that it makes me feel as if I'm better than someone else.
This issue sounds like a given, it really does. However, when we examine this issue, and really delve into the depths of what the consequences of it is, we will see something we probably didn't notice before.
Romans 12:9,10 - Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
I shouldn't have the feeling that I'm better than someone else, especially if I'm a true Christian! I need to stay away from false things, things that make me feel that way. I need to cling to the fact that I have a log in my eye and everyone else has a speck! That's Matthew 7:3 by the way. O, that I may humble myself! I am called to hate sin, and this, this is what I hate! It's the only thing I hate!
Philippians 2:3 says "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves."
What evil tactics the devil has to put it in my mind that I'm better than anyone else! I'm so glad God has convicted me of my pride. When we are in the mindset of "I'm better than you" regardless of what reason as to why we think that way, it should not be so. No one is better than the other, none. If anything, the other person is more significant than you are!
Yesterday I prayed that the Lord open my eyes to the pridefulness within me, and He has done so!
Job 8:5-7 - If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy, 6 if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. 7 And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.
So I leave you tonight, with a helpful insight into my life as it sits before me. I pray that you too will recognize the error of your ways. That you will see there is no good that comes from the flesh!
Ephesians 2:1-3 says "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by the nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."
2 comments:
Once before I was a Christian I was driving through WKU's campus very late at night. It was summer time and I am sure that I had been downtown doing something with friends and was now on my way "home". The streets were practically deserted and it was a kind of driving rarely experienced in BG. All of a sudden this lady came out of no where, ran out into the middle of the roadway waving her hands and jumping up and down yelling for help. I was forced to stop lest I would have ran her over. I began to roll down my window but she opened my passenger door and climbed in, without asking. I was stunned. She pleaded with me to drive her somewhere that I remember was quite a far distance. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do so because I had hardly enough gas to get home and not enough money to purchase fuel. However, I did offer to take her where ever she might desire to go within the city limits, reasonably. So I ended up dropping her off at a gas station so she could phone a friend. In my unregenerate state I know what I did was wicked and sin, for in man resides no good thing, and from him can come no good thing. Even the "good" that unregenerate man does for others is sin. Why? Because he does it for his own glory, for his own gain, he prostitutes God's goodness. I did help this woman, but it was still rebellion against God because I was not acting according to His Spirit, but rather the by the flesh.
Another time, when I had been a Christian for 2 or 3 years, my then fiance, another guy friend and I picked up a rambler thumbing it at a gas station. He wanted us to take him down the interstate a ways and we lovingly abliged. The best past was we spent about 25-30 minutes with this guy and had the opportunity to talk about Christ and the gospel. Seeds were sown. In the end we purchased him some food and left him were he asked us to. Even still, repenting from our righteous deeds is essential, for we must be continually seeking to own nothing "good" in and of ourselves. The only righteousness we have is that which has been graciously given to us; Christ's. The fruit we bear is contingent upon He who gives the growth; Christ.
Once I had a wiser man tell me that a good rule with regards to picking up ramblers safely is to do so with the company of fellow Christians and usually without your wife. Now, obviously each situation is different, and we must be willing to adapt, but prioritizing the safety of your wife is important. Your wife is God's daughter, and we must protect her out of reverance for Him.
Good post brother, it helped me very much. Love in Christ always.
I completely agree with you on so many aspects! I was thinking about having my wife in the car while picking up strangers. Definitely on the defensive there... Looking after and providing safety for my wife is #1 when it comes to helping others. A first and foremost before anything else can be done.
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