Posts Tagged ‘ Pride ’
Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct he should show that his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom.
James 3:13, CSB
Humble, sacrificial service out of love for God and others is the expectation for those who carry the name of Jesus, having the same gentleness and compassion of Christ, not thinking we are better than others.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time
1 Peter 5:6, CSB
We find hope and strengthened faith when we can get over our own understandings and pride and instead acknowledge the grace, power, and perfect love of God over our lives.
but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:7-8, ESV
The answer to the hatred, hubris, and hedonism of the world is to be like Christ: deny ourselves for the sake of others that they may come to know the lover of our souls, Christ.
Hot take?
I won’t lie: I have been tired of Pride Month for a couple of months already. As one source put it (I forget who said it originally), Pride Month is the new Christmas: it starts earlier and earlier, and all the businesses are in on it.
Unlike Christmas, though, the majority who celebrate it tend to demonize those who don’t.
Yes, some Christmas celebrants do that, and we have seen the Conservative backlash against the “War on Christmas”. But they are focusing on the wrong war, especially with the irony of the Conservative focus on freedom of speech (and personal choice).
Conversely, there are some Pride people who follow a more “live and let live” approach.
With Pride Month (which started in earnest with the Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light fiasco), the focus has always been “let us celebrate ourselves” as opposed to celebrating the birth of Christ. Yes, Christmas has largely become about getting what we want, but these two seasons started from polar opposite positions.
This is why I was happy to hear about a new option:
Prof. Robert George of Princeton University suggested that, rather than combating darkness, we focus on lighting candles.
As the name suggests, we focus on remaining faithful (Latin: fidelis) to the core values of commitment to God, spouses (one man and one woman), family (traditional nuclear family), community, and nation.
It’s not a radical idea. It used to be the basis for most people, especially in the West. Yet, even conservative people and groups are willing to compromise on some of these, often simply to refute and reject “the other side” or in a twist of libertarianism.
This is in fact biblical.
Look at Ephesians 5-6, 1 Peter 2-3, and many other passages that could be pulled up.
I say we start doing likewise, actually go out of our way to promote biblical values.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:14, ESV
We have been freed from sin and pride so that we are free to love God by loving other people through sacrifice and service.
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18, ESV
Do not think you can do everything on your own. Sometimes we all need help.
Especially in matters of eternity. We all need Christ to escape The Fall.
Do not stray from knowledge; rather find wisdom through Proverbial Thought!
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Philippians 2:12-18
Needing to Go for a Walk
Last week I wrote about my dog and God’s control over our lives. I return to the topic of my dog this week.
My little puppy is a joy to have around . . .
. . . especially when he begins to make a lot of noise.
. . . especially when he nips at our hands and heels.
. . . especially when he tears at furniture and furnishings.
. . . especially when he destroys things.
Usually, there is a simple fix: he just needs to go for a walk!
When all he does is get fed and hang around the home, eventually things build up inside that must be released. He needs to walk around, meet with others, and “release” all that is locked up inside. Only then does he behave well.
Needing to Go for a Walk
We can get the same way in the Church.
Many people grumble and make a lot of noise about what they do not like or how they think things should run.
Many people complain about others, and they begin to gossip and fight.
Many people tear apart relationships and congregations over meaningless squabbles.
Many people destroy their own or their families lives.
You may already know where this is going:
The biggest problem with many in the Church is that they do not get out of the Church enough.
They sit in their chairs and get fed, and they are surrounded by (and even help) others who are constantly being fed. Yet, they almost never step outside to meet others and share what they have been fed and thus lead them to salvation.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Jude 1:14-23
When we hold onto all of the good things God has given us, even attempting to keep His Holy Spirit to ourselves, what really builds up inside is our own selfishness and pride. We build our sin instead of righteousness.
Then we lash out and complain.
All we need to is go Walk.
I have recently read some interesting things. In keeping with this week’s theme of whether or not you may be in love with someone, I refer to an article from USA Today last month. Hay El Nasser and Paul Overberg wrote and article titled “1990-2010: How America Changed” published on August 11, 2011.
There were some interesting facts such as the top five states with largest latino populations (1) California, 2) Texas, 3) New York, 4) Florida, 5) Illinois), we have the lowest ever proportion of those 18-years-old and younger in our population (24%), and 40 million more people living in suburbs.
The one that relates to this week: in 1990, 26% of births were by single women, as opposed to 41% in 2010. Almost half of the births in this nation last year happened outside of marriage. This tells us something of the state of our culture today.
The article continued by stating that single mothers are higher among Hispanics (53%) and blacks (73%), and in Europe between half and two-thirds of births are to single mothers. It reminds me of the recent fad of teenage girls wanting to have children or “Octo-mom” and others like her having multiple children “because they can.”
We have gained a misunderstanding of love.
Moving on, while some Americans think all Muslims are violent and want to kill all non-Muslims, and some think Islam is merely a religion of peace and tolerance, both of which are misunderstandings, but I read an article today about the people in Afghanistan. Apparently, the vast majority of Afghans have no idea why Americans and others are in their country, and that includes not understanding what happened on September 11, 2oo1. It not only shows that most Afghans had nothing to do with the attacks (very rural living, after all), but “we” have done a horrible job explaining ourselves to the locals.
This reminds me that the Western culture has massive misunderstanding of the rest of the world, and really of itself.
Overall lesson I am seeing: impatience, selfishness, and arrogance is a common theme among people in the West. As we see the Church continue to slide in influence in our culture, is it any wonder?
In honor of tomorrow, I say …
This is generally a time of pride of country and national heritage. I am not going to argue either way if this pride is good or bad … at least not today.
Today I only offer a poem based on Galatians 6:14 (and other passages, too!) which explains where our pride should lie as believers in Jesus Christ.
pride
daniel m klem
the pride i feel is for my God
He sent His Son to die on a cross
Christ Jesus came and saved my soul
so that i know it is not lost
from now on i will not be ashamed
to tell the world about the day
that Jesus died upon a wood cross
just so that your and my souls are saved
i will repeat what i have said
to make sure you heard me say
God sent His one and only Son
so that He could keep us all safe
Taken from simple words for God from a simple man of God by daniel m klem, page 48.
a simple man of God 