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Posts tagged ‘pride’

24
Jun

Humility

David Timms shares some thoughts on becoming a disciple and the lack of focus on humility.

“Should you ask me: What is the first thing in religion? I should reply: the first, second, and third thing therein is humility.” – Augustine, 4th-5th century

Humility

“I am amazed at how little humility is seen as the distinguishing feature of discipleship.” (Andrew Murray: 12)

Most of us think of humility as just another virtue — much like patience, goodness, or kindness. It’s nice and we appreciate it when we see it, but we rarely discuss it and almost never pursue it. Yet, the Bible seems to indicate that humility may be the bedrock of discipleship.

Jesus humbled himself by becoming a man and submitting even to death. (Phil 2:5-8) He called His disciples to “deny yourself … take up your cross … be last of all … be slave of all.” (Mk 8-10)

James reminds us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (Js 4:6)

It’s an old biblical theme that generates little attention, especially in a culture devoted to achievement, recognition, status, and significance. But if pride is the root of our fallenness (1 Jn 2:16) then humility paves the way to our restoration.

Andrew Murray goes so far as to say: “Humility is the only soil in which virtue takes root; a lack of humility is the explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a virtue along with the others, but is the root of all.” (Murray: 17)

Marriages fail not when love grows cold but when pride trumps humility. Churches experience conflict not when unity is forgotten but when humility is lost. We grow least content not when circumstances are tough but when entitlement buries humility.

Of course, our definition of humility makes all the difference. It’s not about self-loathing or dejected defeat. Rather, “true humility comes when before God we see ourselves as nothing, have put aside self, and let God be all.” (Murray: 55)

Let God be all. Sounds simple enough, but the striving and fruitlessness of our lives suggests that we find it easier to let God be some.

The challenge of our day, as followers of Jesus, is not to rise to the top but to live faithfully among the least, because of who He is. It’ll change everything; our homes, our families, our churches, and our workplaces.

In HOPE –

David

24
Aug

Be careful what you stand against…it may one day stand against you.

I’m in 2 Samuel these days and while I’m not to the climax of the book I know what is coming: David’s eventual fall as he becomes an adulterer, a murderer, and an impotent judge.

Throughout 1 Samuel and now into the first four chapters of 2 Samuel you get a strong sense that David is a man of principle. He has multiple opportunities to kill Saul, who’s tried to kill him numerous times, and yet he refuses to do so out of a sense of duty and principle that Saul is the Lord’s Anointed. Who is he to forcefully change the leadership? You sense that David understands that God is in control of his destiny.
You even find that David hates the unjust killing of someone, even for the sake of vengeance (2 Samuel 3), and he curses Joab and Abishai for murdering Abner and he puts Baanah and Recab to death for killing Ishbosheth (2 Samuel 4). Up to this point you would never have been able to predict that David would murder anyone at any time for anything. Yet this is exactly what he does to Uriah after sleeping with his wife.
One principle I glean from David’s life is that we must always keep our guard up. We can never say, “I’ll never do that”, or “I’ll never do that again.” We can never be slothful in how we personally combat things that we take strong stands against publicly. Often I wonder if we take strong stands against things in a public manner in order to cover for what we struggle with deeply on a personal level. When pride sets in we often fall to the very thing we stand against. There are too many recent examples to mention, but we must be careful to refrain from claiming that, “I’d never do such and such or this and that.” For as soon as we do the seed of pride has been sown and a road to destruction has been paved.
So, for me I can never believe that I can indulge because I have control, or I have defeated, or I once repented because once I do the enemy will be waiting to take full advantage and create an avalanche from a snowball. It will be a butterfly effect where one uncontrolled thought leads to a multitude of physical sin.
So, when we are encouraged to always keep a close watch on ourselves (1 Timothy 4:16) it’s not without historically recorded evidence of what happens when we don’t.