“Pride lands you flat on your face; humility prepares you for honors.” Proverbs 29:23
The author speaks about how pride was probably the culprit in Eve's decision to eat the apple. Must we bring up Eve again? Poor Eve—she is blamed for everything that is wrong with our world. If it hadn’t been for her we would all be hanging out in the garden with God at this very moment.
If you believe that then you definitely need to check on your pride. I truly believe that if Eve hadn’t done something stupid, someone else would have. I most certainly have done some pretty bad things that would have gotten me kicked out of the garden. I have been so disrespectful to God…I daily put myself before Him. And that is a form of pride. I disagree with the author who says that pride in your heritage or your football team is not destructive. Any form of pride in anything can be destructive. For example, I love my new house. I want it to be perfect. I want pretty curtains and more furniture and more storage and beautiful decorations. But when I bought this house I knew that God wanted me to use this extra space for Him. While sitting in church I had great thoughts of having Bible studies here and a playgroup for Parker’s friends where they would learn about the Bible. But my pride in making my house perfect kept me from doing these things for the first 6 months or so. I wanted people to see my house after completion and think I had it all together. But God doesn’t care. He can use an empty room or yard. I am now working on inviting people over to my house weekly, whether it is clean or not! Talk about swallowing your pride!
But God rewards us for humbling ourselves and swallowing that pride. Again I disagree with the author here. He may not give trophies, but we will receive crowns if He is pleased with us. “Well done my good and faithful servant.” Oh, how I long to hear those words. As the author suggests, take a look at a handful of things that make you proud (like accomplishments, possessions, abilities, etc). Are you honoring God with them and giving Him the glory? Or like me, do you starve for the attention that those things can give you. I pray that we can all use our gifts from God to gain attention only for Him and at the same time receive His adoring attention for a job well done.
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love this, and it is so true. The example of the house is perfect. I feel the same way. Had people asking to see pictures and because it wasn't just "so" I put off posting them for forever. It takes time to build a home, we want everything immediately these days. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteHeather - really, you are amazing! You humble me every time I read your posts. You are so on target with this reflection. I, too, put off having others over because the house isn't perfect. And I love the idea of using our home to bring people together to learn about God. I would love to have a kids playroup that focuses on learning about God. You are such an amazing mom - thanks for this insight.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you for continuing to reflect, as I try to figure out life with two under 2 1/2 - neither of whom value sleep like I do. I keep waiting for the perfect, quiet time to post but I learned that won't happen!
I hope you are feeling well. Looking forward to finding out what you're having - please share with us when you know the gender.