Pride is a sneaky, slimy trait that worms its way into most all aspects of our character. As I prayed this morning, I asked for the ability to follow Jesus' lead into the beauty of humility. As rehearsed over and over in the Gospels, He was under the authority of God. Do we get that? For me, it's one of those mind-boggling truths that gives me a headache. I'm just too finite to get it. Jesus told the Jews that He was not there on His own authority. He told the disciples that He did not speak on His own authority. He told them that the Father was greater than Himself. (John 7:28; 14:10;28) While there are many more references, the point for my post today is that Jesus humbled Himself. He was fully God and also fully Man. And as Man, He was under the divine authority of God, the Father!
Do we get that? Here is one more amazing example of perfection lived out before a watching world and written down for the benefit of all the people who were to come. Jesus, God in the flesh, submitted Himself to the authority of God. He is equal, but made Himself submissive for a purpose that was perfectly planned out. I thought to myself, "why am I so dull of mind?" I get upset over a few ungodly unbelievers and believers. I want to cry "unfair"! And here is God in the flesh submitting to the authority of God Who is in control and has planned and purposed all things rightly. Who am I in all my stupid pride to fret over a few inconveniences and slandering? God submitted to God because He knew that it was the only way that was true.
And it's the way of peace. Under the authority of God! As I continued in prayer, Philippians 2:6 came to my mind: "He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped". That is where we have to come: submission! I wanted to put my hands over my head and cry for forgiveness. Pride stinks and I want it destroyed. The Christian's walk is a process, always learning, always fighting sin, and always growing in amazed wonder at our Sovereign God. Pride fills the way with potholes that will keep us anxious and fretting over things of no value whatsoever in the spiritual realm.
Let the instruction of Philippians 2:5-7 and the example of Christ's humility written down in the Gospels, direct us in a path that fulfills the true longings of the heart. Only He can fill the void created by sin and give us true purpose for living. "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men". Under the authority of God is the only safe haven for all creatures. And Jesus has lived out that example for us and blessed us with the privilege of having it written down for our eternal benefit. Pride must not be allowed to hinder us or it will be a calamity far more heinous than anything this life could ever bring.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Garbage Day
I love my early morning walk!! Except on Thursdays. Thursday is Garbage Day. Depending on my time, I am either passing garbage containers full of stinky trash or empty containers that reek of the extracted contents. No matter what road I choose, it's going to be a stinky walk here and there.
This morning a quote from John Piper came to mind as I passed each container full of garbage. He was answering a question about using transgender bathrooms at Target (or wherever). The answer he gives is excellent, but the portion for my post is his last paragraph: "I think we should spend most of our creative energies on constructing in our minds and in our hearts and in our families great and beautiful and glorious alternative visions of reality than the ones we are being offered by the world. If we give most of our time to bemoaning and criticizing the world for acting like the world, our vision of God and his glorious future for his people will become smaller and smaller, and that could be a greater tragedy than the one we are living in."
Garbage day is a reality. It is what it is. I don't embrace garbage or hang with it or advocate it but it's here for the duration. I can boycott that day but I'm the looser because, well as I said, I love my walk. So I pass a couple of stinky containers every block. I still have the rest of the block and the blocks before me to walk, feel the vitality of exercise and look up at the blue sky rejoicing in all the blessings God has bestowed on me.
This morning a quote from John Piper came to mind as I passed each container full of garbage. He was answering a question about using transgender bathrooms at Target (or wherever). The answer he gives is excellent, but the portion for my post is his last paragraph: "I think we should spend most of our creative energies on constructing in our minds and in our hearts and in our families great and beautiful and glorious alternative visions of reality than the ones we are being offered by the world. If we give most of our time to bemoaning and criticizing the world for acting like the world, our vision of God and his glorious future for his people will become smaller and smaller, and that could be a greater tragedy than the one we are living in."
Garbage day is a reality. It is what it is. I don't embrace garbage or hang with it or advocate it but it's here for the duration. I can boycott that day but I'm the looser because, well as I said, I love my walk. So I pass a couple of stinky containers every block. I still have the rest of the block and the blocks before me to walk, feel the vitality of exercise and look up at the blue sky rejoicing in all the blessings God has bestowed on me.
Pride and Punishment
"All mankind is stupid and devoid of knowledge..." How's that for a commentary on humanity? The books of Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes tells us consecutively: "the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom", "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge...", "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom...", "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments..." Oh for grace to understand the beauty, simplicity, and profound truth of this starting point toward a right perspective on life!
Jeremiah, a book that many view as depressing, has given me such hope and encouragement as I bow down in amazement of our compassionate and sovereign Creator. Over the years we grab a few profound verses from this book but in its entirety, it holds a picture that has energized me with renewed views of myself and my Father. "Ah, Lord, GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You..." (32:17) How I need to bask in that verse daily as I begin each day on my knees for God's divine and power direction.
Since the fall, we are all born with a bent in the opposite direction of holiness. And with each chapter of Jeremiah, we see ourselves but for God's grace in the wayward Israelites and all the pagan nations around them. We must not point our finger, for in this book, we see the only Finger that has a right to point, and He will do what He purposes to do. If we, in our wicked bent toward evil, want to kick against God in pseudo pride, then all that we have waiting for us is calamity. And it's this that I want to address in this post: pride and punishment!
While all the book of Jeremiah has valuable lessons, pride is a major part of our sin nature which can and does wreck havoc in the life of unbelievers and believers alike. And in chapter forty-eight, we see clear characteristics of this pride. Contemplate the following list and apply with holy desire of divine correction to your own lives: lofty, praised (desire for praise), trust in own achievements and treasures, at ease since youth, undisturbed warriors, valiant, glory and strongholds in yourself, arrogant toward God, idle boasts, abundance, and riotous revelers.
The punishment of unconfessed and foolish pride is sure. Whether the lesson is dealt with in this life or the next, pain is sure. But the pain here, I pray, is corrective pain that leads to salvation. Because the pain in hell will never be over. Consider the following punishment characterized in this same chapter, for the Creator God that Jeremiah tells us to "behold" in the verse above does not miss His mark: destroyed, put to shame, captured, shattered, no more praise, calamity, cut off from being a nation, silenced, sword (death), great destruction, broken, little ones crying, continual weeping, anguished cry, exiled, priests and princes (high positions and status of no consequence), ruined lands, slaughtered, disaster, laughing stock, futile fury, and no shouts of joy.
Due to length of post, I left many in the punishment list off. But hopefully, we get the picture of the end of pride. Let us seek God on our knees in humble adoration of His ability to heal us while we still breathe the breath of life on earth. Let us give up to Him all our concerns, questions, and idols, that we may live a life that brings Him honor, glory, and praise. And that our life will be fulfilled with joy and peace as only He can give. May Jesus Christ be praised for His unspeakable gift of salvation. Holy is His name!
Jeremiah, a book that many view as depressing, has given me such hope and encouragement as I bow down in amazement of our compassionate and sovereign Creator. Over the years we grab a few profound verses from this book but in its entirety, it holds a picture that has energized me with renewed views of myself and my Father. "Ah, Lord, GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You..." (32:17) How I need to bask in that verse daily as I begin each day on my knees for God's divine and power direction.
Since the fall, we are all born with a bent in the opposite direction of holiness. And with each chapter of Jeremiah, we see ourselves but for God's grace in the wayward Israelites and all the pagan nations around them. We must not point our finger, for in this book, we see the only Finger that has a right to point, and He will do what He purposes to do. If we, in our wicked bent toward evil, want to kick against God in pseudo pride, then all that we have waiting for us is calamity. And it's this that I want to address in this post: pride and punishment!
While all the book of Jeremiah has valuable lessons, pride is a major part of our sin nature which can and does wreck havoc in the life of unbelievers and believers alike. And in chapter forty-eight, we see clear characteristics of this pride. Contemplate the following list and apply with holy desire of divine correction to your own lives: lofty, praised (desire for praise), trust in own achievements and treasures, at ease since youth, undisturbed warriors, valiant, glory and strongholds in yourself, arrogant toward God, idle boasts, abundance, and riotous revelers.
The punishment of unconfessed and foolish pride is sure. Whether the lesson is dealt with in this life or the next, pain is sure. But the pain here, I pray, is corrective pain that leads to salvation. Because the pain in hell will never be over. Consider the following punishment characterized in this same chapter, for the Creator God that Jeremiah tells us to "behold" in the verse above does not miss His mark: destroyed, put to shame, captured, shattered, no more praise, calamity, cut off from being a nation, silenced, sword (death), great destruction, broken, little ones crying, continual weeping, anguished cry, exiled, priests and princes (high positions and status of no consequence), ruined lands, slaughtered, disaster, laughing stock, futile fury, and no shouts of joy.
Due to length of post, I left many in the punishment list off. But hopefully, we get the picture of the end of pride. Let us seek God on our knees in humble adoration of His ability to heal us while we still breathe the breath of life on earth. Let us give up to Him all our concerns, questions, and idols, that we may live a life that brings Him honor, glory, and praise. And that our life will be fulfilled with joy and peace as only He can give. May Jesus Christ be praised for His unspeakable gift of salvation. Holy is His name!
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