Tag: pride

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Measured Uniquely

How many times do we compare ourselves to others? Probably a lot more than we’d like to admit. For some reason, we believe we need to “one-up” each other to make ourselves look better than the next. It’s like we cannot be enough if our neighbor is winning.

It’s a Biblical problem that goes all the way back to Cain & Abel. In Genesis 4, we meet the two sons of Adam & Eve – Cain & Abel. One was a farmer and the other was a shepherd. The farmer (Cain) offered God a sacrifice of vegetation and the shepherd (Abel) offered God a sacrifice of meat. God only accepted Abel’s offering and Cain got so jealous that he killed his own brother. Cain was forever banished to wander the Earth.

Do you see how destructive comparison can be? Do you know that this isn’t God’s desire for us? Do you understand that God created each of us uniquely for a reason and purpose – to walk along side each other rather than against each other? (Isaiah 64:8, Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 4:16)

Lisa Bevere says in her book Without Rival that God doesn’t love us equally, but uniquely. We are all made so intricately God cannot love us all in the same way, but His love for us is tailored to who He made us. (See Psalm 139:13-16)

Our focus should be running in comparison to Jesus. He is the one we should compare ourselves with & only Him. Jesus came to Earth not only to die for our sins, but to be our example. Set your gaze on His journey & not on your neighbors as comparison.

When we look over to our neighbors- we should be doing it to encourage, help or show love to them. When we care about each other & understand that we are meant to work with each other than against each other, the Body of Christ can thrive.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”

Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT

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The Answer

If you are anything like me, then you carry a lot of weight on your shoulders. Not physical weight, but symbolic weight.  You feel like you have to solve every problem and make everything right; you have to make sure everyone is pleased with what you do and if you don’t do any of these things – you are a failure.  These are things we feel like we can control…oh, but we can’t.  Nope, we aren’t that powerful.

If you are a control freak like me, then you must admit that there are things out of reach for you to change and that you cannot make everyone happy.  It’s so hard sometimes to deal with that, but it is life.  We MUST put our trust in God.  We MUST allow God to fight those battles.  And we MUST not allow ourselves to carry burdens we were never meant to carry.

As I have confessed above, this is me most days.  So when I say that having this problem is in connection with a BIG pride issue we MUST face (and repent from) – I am speaking to myself also.  Pride will destroy us if we allow it, even when we mask it by telling ourselves we are helping others.  We will not be able to solve all problems and we will not be able to be the superhero to every story.  That is Jesus’ job.

The book of James is my favorite…it really is.  I love how direct he is and doesn’t sugar coat things.  It’s awesome.  James 4:6 says “But he gives more grace.  Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”  Dear fellow control freaks – when we get into a spiral where we feel like a constant failure, maybe it’s time to humble ourselves before God and admit that we took too much on.  Repent of the sin of not fully trusting God and let His grace wash over us.  It’s a soothing thing to let that grace wash over our “pride” wounds we gave ourselves.

Jesus is always the answer – we are not.  People that don’t know Him need someone to show them what is the answer.  We need to always point to Him in everything we do.  I know that many of us mean good when we try to constantly make things better for everyone around us and solve everyone’s problem, but that isn’t our job.  Our job is to love – God and people (Mark 12:29-31).  That is it.  If we do this without getting in the way of God doing His work, then we are successful.  And, when we fail to do this – because we will – if we go to God in repentance, then we are successful also.

The greatest way to fix this problem is to dwell with God.  If we stop 1) reading scripture, 2) worshiping Him, and/or 3) healing wise counsel/preaching/teaching – then we can get into a spot where we feel we need to take on more than we need to.  God is our refuge and strength and He is always the answer!

Psalm 46:

God is a safe place to hide,
ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.

Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
but Earth does anything he says.

Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”

 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

 

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Currency of the Kingdom

I wish I could tell you I am always good and never make a mistake.  I wish.  Reality is that I fail daily.  Yep, daily.  It’s terrible.  No matter how good I am, there is always some bad in me.

Part of being human is understanding the bad parts of ourselves.  Understanding that we will fail.  No matter how hard I try to deny that I do bad things (which I do too often), I will always have to eventually admit that there are parts of me that are awful.

Don’t get me wrong, this blog isn’t all about how awful we can be.  There are parts of me (and parts of you) that are amazing.  There are attributes to us that God put in us – that God loves about us, that make us incredible creatures.  We are God’s precious creation, one He is proud of.

But if we do not admit to ourselves and be brutally honest to ourselves and to God how awful we can be, then we cannot accomplish what we need to accomplish in this life. If we allow these sins, discretions, or mishaps to go on without working on them/correcting them – it can actually derail us.  I don’t want to walk through life allowing pride to defeat me.  What about you?

How do you and I defeat this foe called us?  We use humility.  We go to God and ask Him to not only forgive us, but to help us turn from our awful ways to become better people.  If we live our lives on a culture of humility, very few things can get is down.

Paradoxical?  Wouldn’t it be better if we were our own constant cheerleaders no matter what we do? In the world, maybe.  But in the Kingdom, putting others first and allowing yourself to learn from your mistakes so you can grow is vital.

Don’t let your failures and sins get you so down you can’t get up.  But don’t allow yourself to take those mistakes so lightly that you decide not to acknowledge them.  Repentance and humility are the best road!

“The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭51:17‬ ‭NLT

Be blessed, dear readers!

 

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Don’t Grow Weary

I used to have a desire to be seen in doing good.  I wanted a chance to “be something” and would not always treat people like I should.  I am not saying I was ruthless or even malicious.  I am saying I was prideful and impatient.  I wanted my reward now.  I was also insecure – I wanted to know I was needed by people.  Man, it was a stressful season for me…because I never got what I wanted.  I did good, but grew weary.

It wasn’t until a faithful mentor in my life explained to me that it doesn’t require me to overwork myself to get things done – in essence – I am not that great.  Ouch!  But oh so true!  I grew weary because my focus was not on what it should be.  I was doing good for the soul reason to further myself when I should be doing good because that is what I am supposed to be doing.

I should do everything unto God and not worry about who sees it…He sees it.  This revelation began to birth in me a peace that allowed me to love people like I never have because I no longer looked to them for my worth.  I looked to be a blessing to them.  I learned that, at the end of the day, God has my back and I don’t need to be noticed, seen, or praised by others.  Don’t get me wrong, those things are great, but they are not necessary to fulfil the calling on my life.

Being faithful unto God, leaning on Him, learning that it takes all of us to get the work done has been an epiphany that set me free.  I no longer allow myself to become weary because my source is Him.  Pride can suffocate you like nothing else.

I know you are asking yourself why I decided to share this with you…here is why – because the way our society is set up, we can get lost in the desire of others’ approval and it become our downfall.  We see it in celebrities all the time.  The church and those of faith cannot follow that pattern.  We must remain humble and under the hand of God.  That way, we do not seek something from a fellow person that they cannot give.  

I know there are going to be days that I will fail at this and fall back to my old ways, but know that I need to find my way back.  Will you join me on this journey?

Live your life free of expecting things from others.  God will ensure that you are taken care of.  He will make sure you get what you need.  Just keep doing good.

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:9-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

  

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I am a Doer

I am a Doer – I am the person that people call on when things need to get done. I will run down halls, climb under things, and handle 5 stations at once to get a task accomplished. Is this a bad thing? Conceptually, no, it is not. Can it become a problem – absolutely.

As I was doing my thing this morning, God spoke to me – He asked me “What is the purpose of you doing all these things?” Am I doing this to bring Him glory or to bring myself glory? Wow, that was something I needed to really think about. Am I a person who is notoriously narcissistic? I don’t think so. Do I have some pride issues? Yes.

Do I believe that this was 100% a pride issue? No, I don’t. This was as much of an issue of insecurity as it was pride. Basically, I am looking for my value from those around me. Deep down, I want everyone to see me as someone important, someone who is needed. I could go into why I may feel this way, but that is another post. So, for several reasons, I needed to ask God’s forgiveness.

Dysfunction is always a sign that we are putting more effort into one aspect of our life and causing us to be off balance. Thus, we cause our one area of our life to be overly noticed and the other(s) get neglected. Do we need others in our lives? Emphatically, yes! Do we need to live for others in our lives solely? Absolutely not! We must live for the Almighty who lives in Us. To please Him is all we need to do. Everything else is just an added blessing.

What if some of the greats sought the need for other’s approval over God’s? Joseph wouldn’t have been able to save his family from the famine if he would have given up at any point along the way. Moses wouldn’t have led the Israelites out of Egypt if he would have buckled when everyone didn’t believe him. Jesus Christ wouldn’t have hung on the cross for the world’s salvation if he would have let the Pharisees’ disapproval overwhelm him. If we crumble under the pressure of needing other’s approval, we could be missing out of why God created us.

I am challenging you today to look at your life. Is there any area of your life that you can identify with my situation I described above? Are you looking for the approval of others where you shouldn’t? If so, know that you are a beautiful creation of our Father and were created just as you are! You don’t need others’ approval if above your Creater’s.

I also challenge you to look at your life and see if there is any dysfunction – do you have an area of your life that you are putting more focus than you should, causing you to be off balance? If so, give everything over to God. He will help you walk those things out because He wants you to reach your full potential.

Remember that you are precious whether others know it or not. You are no mistake!

Blessings.

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