10/12/2011
Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Bible Verse of the Day: 1st peter 5: 5-6 " God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time."
I believe that pride is the most dangerous sin. Why? Because it keeps us from admitting our need for a savior, One greater than us who can redeem our sins and transform us back into the relationship with God that we were always meant to share. Pride is the control mechanism the devil uses to make us feel like we are in control of our lives and our eternal destination. Pride is being so wise in our own eyes that we fail to recognize the disastrous effects that sin in our lives is having on the relationships that are most important to us; our relationship with God, with our families and with our friends and acquaintances. Pride keeps us from feeling the power of God in our lives because we are unwilling to trust in Him when we feel like we are in control. Pride is what makes us blame other people or other factors when we fail at things that are important to us. Pride makes us haughty. We don't realize we are in need of a Doctor until we admit that we are sick. God tells us throughout the book of Proverbs that our own pride will eventually lead to our downfall. He warns us of the dangers of pride and how much He loathes it in Proverbs 8:13 " I hate pride and arrogance," in 16:18 " Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall," and in 29:23 " a man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor." God hates pride out of His love for us because it causes us separation from Him. God is not jealous of us, he is jealous for us. He wants us to walk with Him so He can protect us from ourselves. Like always, when God points out a problem in our nature, he always give us a solution. In this case he tells us what a contrast to our pride looks like. It looks like humility. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less. It is establishing the pecking order in your life: God first, your family second and everything after that next. When we are intentional in our realization that we are dependent on God for our strength and wisdom, then we become humble and He can work marvelous things in and through us. That is why Psalm 111:10 says " the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Humility is about recognizing our limitations and God's infinite power and wisdom. It helps us to put order into our personal universe when we acknowledge our need for God. Some people think of that as a weakness, to admit your dependence on another being or higher power to help you achieve your goals. I view it as spiritual maturity and growth. It is a breakthrough born of painful self examination.When we recognize who is ultimately in control, and "we humble ourselves before the mighty hands of God," it helps relieve stress, remove fear and tap us into a new energy source that can propel us to greater things. I am working on humility each and every day because I have come to recognize how destructive my ( false ) pride has been in my life. I think for me that has been the beginning of wisdom that has helped me in further developing my relationship with God. I continue to pray for His leadership in helping me to recognize and remove prideful areas of my life. He is doing that and I am very much a work in progress. But I now feel the blessings of humility in my life more easily and more quickly. As the Apostle Paul said, "for when I am weak, then am I strong," has started to make sense to me. His power truly is made perfect in my weakness. Praise God for His unending mercy and grace in revealing these truths to me before my pride took me for a great fall. Although we can fall in our pride which is part of our human nature at any moment, I now at least am aware of the problem. I have admitted my sickness and need for a Doctor. It will take me the rest of my lifetime to learn to become a good patient. Thankfully, I know the guy that can lead me. All praise and glory be to Jesus Christ!
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