Pride, The Glory Stealer...
Illus. From the book a life beyond amazing, by David Jeremiah.
In Detroit in the 1930s, three young men boarded a bus and attempted to pick a fight with a passenger sitting alone in the back. They threw one insult after another, but the man said nothing in response. Eventually the bus came to the man’s stop. He stood, pull the business card from his pocket, and handed it to one of the men before stepping off the bus and going on his way. It read: Joe Louis, boxer.
The three young man had tried to pick a fight with the future heavyweight boxing champion of the world, a title Joe Louis held from 1937 to 1949. Joe could’ve easily given those boys the fight of their lives if he had chosen too and no one would have blamed him.
Proverbs 16:18,19 NKJ
Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall.
Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly,
Than to divide the spoil with the proud.
MSG says: First pride, then the crash—
the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.
Illus. from “a life beyond amazing”
Muhammad Ali once joked, “at home I’m a nice guy but I don’t want the world to know that I’m a nice guy. Humble people, I found don’t get very far in life or in the ring.”
There’s nothing wrong with being recognized for accomplishments, in fact being recognized is kind a nice. But it’s when the recognition becomes the motive for our actions, that’s when the downfall or Downward spiral starts.
The self focus of pride, steals glory from God while simultaneously stealing our joy as well. When praise and attention is required for everything we do, our happiness becomes completely dependent on other people noticing and praising us. And when that doesn’t happen bitterness and anger begins to creep in.
Maybe you’ve heard these words before or even thought them before, “I been busting my rear at this job for far to long and nobody even notices” maybe I’ll just act like so and so and do as little as possible, until they treat me with some respect!
Acting like a slothful person, Is not what we are called to do! We have been called to be salt in all circumstances.
The opposite of being prideful, is humility. The Humble persons happiness does not depend on whether others notice their efforts or not. They’re secure in who they are.
Their happiness doesn’t depend on what others think. Humility removes the anxiety of the constant need to strive for greater recognition, position, and power.
God calls us to shine wherever we are!
God calls us to give our best,
at what ever it is we do,
at the time we do it,
the whole time we are doing it, as unto to Him!
When we do what God calls us to do, He receives the glory and praise, rather than us.
Never think someone is not watching or noticing what your doing. Someone, is always watching. God is always watching and keeping track of what’s going on! And Gods way of reward is so far beyond the comprehension of mans way of reward!
Matthew 5:13-16 NKJ
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Ronald Reagan once said, “ there’s nothing you can’t accomplish, if you don’t care who gets the credit!” I would go one further, “What can be accomplished is limitless, as long as God receives the glory and the credit!”
Illus. By sermon central
A story is told of a turtle that wanted to spend the winter in Florida, but he knew he could never walk that far. He convinced a couple of geese to help him, each taking one end of a piece of rope, while he clamped his vise-like jaws in the center.
The flight went fine until someone on the ground looked up in admiration and asked, "Who in the world thought of that?"
Unable to resist the chance to take credit, the turtle opened his mouth to shout, "I did--"
The greatest example of humility that we have to go by, is the example that Jesus gave us.
The first image we have of Jesus is as a tiny baby being born in a barn, surrounded not by paparazzi, but by the animals in that barn. The image announces His birth in humility, lowliness and vulnerability.
The last image we see of Jesus is a broken body hanging on the cross. Both the beginning and the ending of Jesus life suggest one of humble service.
John 13 MSG
1-2 Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.
3-6 Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”
8 Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”
Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”
9 “Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”
10-12 Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you.”) After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.
12-17 Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.
A life of humility, is a life willing to serve others!
Of all the sins the Bible warns continually against is pride.
Illus. by Davon Huss
PRIDE AND DIRTY LAUNDRY
A woman looked out of her window every morning and commented on the dirty laundry on her neighbor's line. One day she noticed it was sparkling clean.
"Maybe she's using a new detergent," she said.
"No," said her husband, "I got up early and cleaned our windows."
Romans 12:3 NKJ
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
God gave us all the ability, to have faith and to use our faith. God also gave us all the ability to serve and the where with all to use, that ability as well!
For the average Christian, neither ability is used to there potential. While some may find it hard to believe, truth is the concept of serving, is found more than 300 times in the Bible.
Matthew 23:11,12 NKJ
But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Illus. from “a life beyond amazing”
Peggy Noonan, speech writer for President Ronald Reagan wrote these words in her book, “when character was king”
A few days after President Reagan had been shot, when he was well enough to get out of bed, he still wasn’t feeling well, so he went into the restroom that connected to his room.
He slapped some water on his face and some of the water slopped of the sink and onto the floor. He got some paper towels and he got down on the floor to clean it up. At that moment a nurses aide went to check on him and found the president of United States on his hands and knees cleaning up the mess he made.
Mr. President she said what are you doing? Let the nurse clean that up! And he said, “oh no...I made the mess I will clean up the mess!”
TBS to never think more of ourselves than we ought to!
Proverbs 26:12 MSG
See that man who thinks he’s so smart?
You can expect far more from a fool than from him.
Isaiah 5:21 NKJ
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!
Every political problem could be solved if the ambition of man was only to serve others and not to enhance their own career. That’s why Washington DC is so choatic and nothing ever gets accomplished!
Society and those in society run into trouble when they think that their it, and their way is the only way...and there is no more need for self improvement.
Illus. from sermon central
Pablo Casals is considered to be one of the greatest cellists that ever lived. Pablo played for Queen Victoria when he was 22 years of age. He also played for president Kennedy when he was 86. He was unquestionably the master of the instrument, yet at the age of 96 he still practiced at least three hours a day. When asked why he still practiced, he said I think Im beginning to see some improvement!
To get better at something we all need practice. The repetitiveness and the discipline, to keep doing it until we get it right!
That’s why the concept of service and being a willing servant is mentioned so many times in the Bible. Because it’s something without question we should be doing, always looking for ways of improvement!
Sound foreign? Human nature and the accuser will do their best to confuse those who think they are wise. Those who think they need to analyze and know all there is to know, before being willing to participate in obedience.
Have you ever said or heard the words from someone or to someone you may have had a theological discussion?....”one day when we get to heaven, they’ll see!”
Did you know In heaven there will be no know it alls! Everyone will be equal with one focus in mind and one focus only, “Worshiping Jesus!”
Our goal should be, to be more like that in the here and now huh?
In the end, the only thing that will matter is what we did to bring ourselves and others to the act of worshiping our God and our Savior.
Everything, that’s a big word isn’t it? Yep, everything covers it all!
Everything we do as unto God with a humble spirit, is an act of worship unto God and part of our diligence and pursuit of our faith in our relationship with God we have through Jesus!
That certainly gives us perspective on how we should be viewing our actions towards others huh?
And for every kind act of worship, service and humility we show towards others, God takes note of each act as an act of faith, looking for unbelievable and unlimited ways to reward everyone who is willing serve Him.
Psalms 23:6 says goodness and mercy are following us around all the days of our lives looking for opportunities to anoint our heads with oil, even in the presence of our enemies!
Let our prayer be with Gods help and His Holy Spirit guiding and directing us, we will realize all the opportunities awaiting us and the desire to serve in whatever capacity God creates for us to step into, as we bare the fruit of the Spirit known as humility!
Amen?
