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As we embark upon another year, it is important to reflect upon the past year and then ponder the kind of life we want to live in 2013. How did you do in 2012? Some may have had tough situations that were out of their control such as a family illness or job loss. Situations such as these caused you to spend a lot of time in a certain area which wasn’t your first choice. For the rest of us, we had 365 days of opportunity to live our lives. We made many choices on how we spent our time, energy, emotions, thoughts, money, and talents. I hope as you look back you are pretty pleased on how you spent your time. For those of us who have room for improvement, let’s look at a passage of scripture that should sum up our lives as we look ahead to 2013!!

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10

Grace is the foundation of our lives. With God’s grace and mercy we entered His kingdom, and we will continue to need His grace to live on this earth and represent Him well. Regardless of how well we know the Bible, how long we have walked with God, or the ministry position we hold, we will continue to be in desperate need of His grace to carry us through life journey. We will make mistakes, have misunderstandings, mistreat others, be unloving, and we will need His grace to cover our sin and redeem the bad situations. No one can boast of God’s grace because it is freely given, and no one can boast they are done needing it!! That should keep us in a humble position towards people, the saved and the unsaved.

If we move into the New Year with that humble estimation of ourselves, we are in a much better position to live out the rest of the scripture (v 10). We are His workmanship. We didn’t create ourselves. God created us, and so He will unfold His purpose and plan for our lives. God creates people and things intentionally and for a purpose (see Genesis 1).

Sometimes we may not know what our purpose is, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a purpose. It just means that we don’t know. There are a lot of things we don’t know. What we should be more concerned about is to know Him. The more we know Him the more we understand His plan for humanity and His heart for people.

The above scripture says,”created in Christ Jesus”. That to me looks like a woman pregnant with a baby. The woman carries that baby in her womb with the hope and expectation that the baby is born one day and the child will have his/her own unique and individual life.  The parents can enjoy seeing this child grow into adulthood and become a mature, loving, and responsible person. We were created in Christ Jesus with a hope and expectation as well. Then the scripture says, “for good works”. I was created by Him and for Him. I was created to know Jesus and out of that relationship my purpose is to do good works.

Why do we need to do good works?

After the fall, the world became full of sin, darkness, and self-perseveration which doesn’t represent the Lord well. People live self-absorbed lives, as believers we are called to do good works by being self-sacrificial, being truthful, and loving, so we can be a light in a dark world. This will help people understand and know that there is a God, who is good, loving, and faithful. With a saving knowledge of God through Jesus, people can be freed from their own darkness.

Lastly, the good works that God has for us is not something we need to conjure up and strive to do. The scripture tells us that the works were already in God’s mind from beforehand. He has prepared them and ordained them. We don’t have to worry about not doing enough, or not knowing what those works are. We just need to posture ourselves in a place of humility, availability, and obedience, and the rest He will unfold before our eyes.  That makes the journey exciting. It takes away the unnecessary burden and responsibility to try to figure out what we need to do, and it keeps us focused on just loving our father. This puts us in a position of knowing when He asks us to do something we are willing to do it.

Some good works will be exciting and fun such as leading someone to Christ; others will require dying to self, such as loving an unlovable person. Regardless of what He asks us to do, whether the world considers it important, valuable, and exciting or not, He considers it good works, and that’s all that matters!!

Favor is a special gift from God for those whom He chooses. God enjoys giving us favor and we enjoy having favor. The word “favor” in the Bible means the following:

a gift of grace, benefit, bounty that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, grace of speech

Instead of evaluating how to get God’s favor, I would like to examine the life of those who were given favor to find their character qualities.

But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Genesis 39:21

Faithfulness in all circumstances-As we read Joseph’s life story, we find someone who was faithful in whatever circumstances he encountered. He was diligent and trusted by those who were over him. He did not complain, grow bitter, or stop working hard because of adverse and unfair situations!!

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. Esther 2:17

Receive instruction in humility- Esther was a beautiful and humble woman. She was willing to receive instruction and direction from her uncle, Mordecai, and Hegai the king’s eunuch. The eunuch favored her and gave her extra privileges long before the King showed her favor. Sometimes people don’t mind receiving instruction from a certain few, but they may look down upon others because they don’t have the right position/credential to speak into their lives. We may miss great instruction from the Lord that comes in an unexpected or undesired form. While all the other women did not notice Hegai, but the scripture tells us that Esther pleased Hegai and she found favor in his sight. (Esther 2:8-9)

So Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.” Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, Who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him.”Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul. So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer. Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” 1Samuel 16:17-22

Skillful- Originally, David was very favored by Saul. Saul’s servants recommended David to Saul because he was skillful, he was prudent in speech and the Lord was with him. David, the shepherd boy, did not have anything to prove. He was skillful in playing music because that’s what he did when he was out feeding sheep. He worshiped God and out of his love for God the skill was developed. This is where as parents we have to be carefeul. For example, we teach our children they should do community work because it looks good on their college application. Instead we should be encouraging them to find things they enjoy doing and giving their best.

Prudent in speech – David also knew how to speak. Have you noticed that you like to be around people who are kind and respectful with their words, and you shy away from those who speak harshly? If you were to recommend someone for a job, would you recommend someone who was prudent in speech or someone who is brash or careless?

So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” Ruth 2:10-12

Self- Sacrifical –Ruth found favor in the eyes of Boaz because she had a good reputation. Her sacrificial and unique love toward her mother-in-law was known in the community. She was also not presumptuous to think that she can get a hand out because she was a widow. When you see someone making great sacrifices for the sake of others, you just can’t help but want to bless them. Generosity begets generosity.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Luke 2:52

Growing in widsom and in favor-While Jesus was born miraculously, he was raised as an average child. His parents were poor and the scripture does not tell us that Jesus had any special privileges. He was submitted to his parents. He remained teachable, & grew in wisdom. The scripture tells us that Jesus grew in favor with God and man. If Jesus needed to grow in favor then we all do as well. Sometimes people think that as long as God is happy with us that’s all I need. If we are going to be His vessels to reach people, then we need their favor too. People are watching our lives more than they care to hear our words.

Every one of the above Biblical characters had God’s favor and then the Lord allowed them to have man’s favor as well.  We need to recognize that in all of the above examples, the favor of God did not puff people up. It did not make them feel better than others. They understood that the favor was given for a purpose, and they stewarded the favor well!!

Let’s pray for God’s favor, but let’s also pray that when we have God’s favor and/or man’s favor we would steward it well to build His kingdom rather than our ego!!

The Jesus who came in the form of a baby entered the public ministry with some intense and bold statements about himself. Those statements were not the kind that you could easily ignore or decide to be neutral about. They were the kind of statements that would either demand you falling on your knees and worshipping this Son of Man; or it would have created a great offense, one which would have caused you to avoid Him.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. John 6:51

Bread is a very valuable food to the Middle Eastern culture. Because of its sustaining simplicity, it is honored by people. Growing up, I remember people honored bread so much that if they saw a piece on the street, they would not step on it. Or, they would stop to pick it up and put it by the side of the walkway, so others inadvertently wouldn’t step on it. Bread was seen as a source of provision from the Lord and one that everyone should be thankful for. Additionally, the Jewish people knew from their own heritage that manna sustained them in the desert for 40 years. At that time, they could not settle down to make a life and enjoy the many varieties of food that they were used to before.

When Jesus made the bold statement that He is the bread of life, basically He was communicating that regardless of your season in life, I will continue to be your source of sustenance. Believing in me sometimes will feel like “what is it!” wondering if Jesus has the power to change our lives and fill our emptiness, but with simplicity of faith in Him, He will sustain us in difficult times.

Just as the Israelites started complaining that they wanted more than Manna (what is it), sometimes we will get bored with simplicity of our relationship with Jesus and we will crave for more.  We need to continue to be thankful to the Lord for His consistent and faithful provision in our lives even when we don’t have meat to eat.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12

Another bold statement that Jesus made was that He is the light of the world. Light allows to us to see what we cannot otherwise see. If we didn’t have the sunlight we wouldn’t have the brightness of a day. With today’s technology and electricity, we usually have some of sort of light in the darkness, but if you were camping you know how dark it can get in the night. Unless you have some of sort of flashlight or lantern with you, it can be very difficult to see.  Jesus basically is declaring that there will darkness all around us. However, we don’t have to walk in darkness, confusion, or despair if we follow Him. It would be like someone who is blindfolded. All they see is the darkness of being blindfolded, but they hold onto someone else’s arm and this person guides them to where they need to go. They must trust the person that is guiding them to guide them to a place which will be for their good and not to a place of harm. That’s what faith in our savior sometimes will look like.

When the Israelites were in the desert, God gave them a pillar of fire for light to guide them in the night. Our eyes work with light. Regardless of how powerful our eyesight can be, it requires light entering our eye through the cornea before our eye can process the information, so we can see.

The Lord’s will is to sustain us through His bread and He wants to give us vision to see, so we won’t walk in darkness. Let’s pray today and ask the Lord to help us in those areas that we feel we have a lack or we don’t see clearly. Jesus made the declarations, “I am” not  “I do”.  Provision and vision is part of His identity. It means whenever we go to Him, His provision and His light is available to us to help us in life!! Thank you Jesus! Precious Father, help me see what I can’t see on my own!!

While there were hundreds of prophesies about the coming Messiah, when Jesus entered the world, He was an unwelcome guest to many people!!

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

At his conception, Joseph was initially upset as to how Mary can be pregnant with this child until he had an angel visitation that calmed him down! At around the time of Jesus’ birth, Caesar Augustus decreed that a census should be taken and everyone should go to their own ancestral hometown to register. Again, this was not a good time to have a baby. So when the time came for Mary to give birth they could not find an inn. My guess is, just as it is now, when it is high travel season, prices go up. It makes it unaffordable to stay in a hotel, when six months prior the same hotel would have been very affordable. Joseph and Mary were poor based on their offering at the temple, so we can surmise that the inn had room for those who had the money, but not for a poor. Again, Jesus was uninvited because his family did not have the monetary or political advantage to obtain a room.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Dwelt: to fix one’s tabernacle, have one’s tabernacle, abide (or live) in a tabernacle (or tent), tabernacle

John 1:14 describes Jesus becoming flesh and dwelling among us. The word “dwelling” means a tabernacle or a tent. You see Jesus very clearly knew that He is not wanted by most people. Those who needed him, on many occasions responded with joy, temporarily, until it became difficult and painful to follow Him!! The religious people could not stand Him because Jesus was a threat to their little kingdoms!  He understood that His dwelling on this earth was temporary. He lived for a short time. He unveiled His plan before His disciples and then He was taken away.

The world had no room for Jesus, and Jesus was not surprised or taken back by it. So we must learn a few things from Jesus’ life:

1. The world still would rather celebrate His birth and think of Him as baby in a manger than be reminded of the Prince of Peace who suffered unjustly, overcame death, and bought salvation and eternal life for us!!

2. There is never a good time for Jesus in someone’s life. Most people do not choose and welcome Jesus in when the circumstances of their lives are favorable. Many people, including Christians, don’t have room for Him except when they are in need! His presence in their lives is a temporary dwelling because most of the time He is uninvited in their day to day lives!! There is no room for Him.

3. He came in an unexpected form. He entered the world in the form of a baby, then as an adult He was known as a carpenter from Nazareth! He will continue to reveal Himself in unexpected ways which will require us to put away the lens of our cultural values, so we can see the simplicity of His presence dwelling among us. The woman at the well discerned who He was without knowing anything about Him. (John 4:1-26)

4. If we are going to be Christ-like, we need to be very mindful of the fact, that we will be unwanted &  uninvited. There will be time that we are only temporarily wanted by people, and that’s usually when the person is going through difficult times. We can’t take this personally. We must understand that we are not here on earth to establish a permanent dwelling place, or ministry, but we must be willing to go wherever He sends us. We must recognize that if the world had no room for Jesus, it will have no room for us either. We are sojourners on earth and once we recognize what we are called to do, it can guard us from unnecessary rejection because we understand the nature of man.

Let’s pray and give permission to Jesus to invade our lives even when we think it’s not a good time, or we’re too busy. Is there anything better than a visitation by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords even in this busy season!!?

Doing good is part of the covenant relationship we have with the Lord. We represent Him on the earth, so He wants us to do the things that are important to Him. It starts out with the Lord teaching us the right way and the good way He desires for us to interact with Him, with ourselves, and with others. The scripture below tells us the type of lifestyle the Father calls us to have.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;  Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:16-17

Today I would like to focus on “Learn to do good.”

The word “learn” means:  to teach, exercise in, be trained.

Since each sinful person comes with a degree of self-preservation, we must learn to do good. There are many scriptures that teach us about doing good. We are taught to put others first; not to gossip or cause division. To forgive quickly and not hold grudges against others. Be impartial and be submissive to others. Be generous and hospitable. Be humble towards God and others. There are a multitude of other scriptures that tell us how to do good which can be summed up in loving our neighbor as ourselves.

I like the fact that scripture tells us to learn to do good which means we need to practice it continually. Doing good should not be a one time or once a year event to make ourselves feel good. It should be practiced so much that it becomes a habit to do good. When something has evolved from an action/activity to a regular habit, it has changed our character. Now, we have become a different person!!  Many times people get confused by Christians because they see some good, but they also see a lot of selfishness or pride, and they don’t understand who we are.

Learning to do good must be a pursuit of ours. We need to do it because it pleases God, not because it gets us a pat on the back. When doing good becomes a lifestyle, you become known for how you consistently live your life that way, whether that’s generosity, hospitality, humility, love, etc.

There is another side to doing good that is just as important. For those of us who have been walking with the Lord for a long time, we have been in various Bible Studies, heard hundreds of sermons over the years, know the scriptures, taught the scriptures, we are in a different place. We know what doing good is, and we have developed it to some degree in our lives, but the scripture challenges us in a new way:

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17

This scripture should bother every believer who has been walking with God for a number of years. This sin will be the sin of omission. This is not an overt sin where someone can point a finger at you and say,”see you just sinned!!” These sins will look different: You can show partiality by not talking about someone’s positive characteristics, you may treat someone differently than somebody else because they have a greater benefit to you personally, you may subtly push others aside making them feel they are not important, you may give nice gifts to those  who have power or authority over you but not do much for those that can’t help you in your career!! The Lord is not pleased with any of these activities. Man may not see it, others may not be able to point finger at it, but God sees it. God wants us to be people who have integrity of heart and do the good we know we ought to do. We need to let go of possessiveness, jealousy and scarcity to be God’s instruments, not just to a dying world but also to the very people who are around us.

Let me ask you one question: If you are working or you are at a ministry position would you be able to recommend someone for a position that you want because you know they will do a better job than you?

I believe if we are people who do what is right and good in the sight of God, He will take care of our needs, and He will open doors for us that we never thought were available. Let’s walk courageously today and surprise ourselves by letting go of self-preservation. Do something radical that is good in the sight of God, that you would have never done before!!

If you lived in Jesus’ time, would you have recognized Him as the Messiah based on His appearance!?

The King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords came in an unexpected appearance! The Jewish people were looking for a mighty warrior to save them from the oppression under Roman rule.  Jesus came into the world with an unexpected appearance in the form of a baby. When He was born, no one cared or had room for His mother who was about to deliver.  The scripture doesn’t tell us that He was able to do anything out of ordinary as a baby!! He was as all other babies, completely dependent upon his parents.

The religious leaders, and even ordinary Jewish people, did not view Jesus as someone special.  He grew up in an ordinary home, with ordinary parents, in a village. As a matter of fact, He was so ordinary that many times His statements offended others because they thought, “who does he think he is!?” Very few people understood Jesus was special.  His own parents knew, because of the angels’ visitations prior to His birth. Also, Anna the prophetess knew she had seen the redeemer when she saw baby Jesus as did the three magi who came and worshiped baby Jesus saw Him as king.

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24

The world tells us that first impressions are everything. However, the Lord is not impressed with first impressions!! People can be impressive for variety of reasons. They can be beautiful or handsome. They can be well accomplished in their field. They can articulate or express ideas well, or preach and teach dynamically. They can be wealthy and well-dressed. Those are the things that grab our attention, external packaging, or performance. However, the Lord is not after a package!!

 Even Samuel the prophet of God had trouble with this. When he went to Jesse’s house to anoint one of his sons to become a future king, he started at first looking at their appearance, assuming the ones who were older and equipped for military work must be the most qualified ones to be the future king.

The Lord has a different perspective. He sees the visible and the invisible. He has given us a visible side and an invisible side. The visible side can be changed easily but cannot be hidden. The invisible side cannot be changed easily but can be hidden. The invisible is much deeper than we can even know or imagine. Our visible part is like the tip of the iceberg that is seen by the natural eyes. The visible part of us is for the casual inquirer, but the invisible part requires more work, more searching, and more vulnerability for exposure.

Jesus did not come with impressive appearance or credential so the Pharisees who were the causal inquirers, were offended by his statements, thinking, “Who does he think he is?” But the Pharisees (since they wore their religious clothing, with their phylacteries), looked like they had it all together and had answers for every spiritual question. The invisible part of them at best was lazy and self indulgent, and at worst was a deceiver of truth.

Having righteous judgment means that we need to put our prejudices, fears, and our own ideas aside, so we can be truly open to what God wants to show us. Sometimes our cultures have created such a stigma about a person, or group of people, that our heart is not open for the Lord to speak to us about that person. People’s age, gender, color, origin, size, looks, education, income should not be our measuring rod for spiritual issues. Obviously there is discernment involved in choosing the right person for the right job, but when it comes to how we relate to people, we should judge as the Lord judges.

Two simple questions we can ask ourselves, “would Jesus judge the person the way I am?”

Then we ask, “Lord, what do you care about that I should care about!?”

For those of us who have been wrongly accused or misjudged, be of good cheer. The Lord knows you and He knows what most people don’t know about you. He knows your labor of love and your sacrifice for Him even when the world seems to be driving fast on the highway of life and you don’t seem to matter. Remember David the Shepherd boy who wasn’t invited to the party when Samuel came to visit. But the Lord didn’t forget Him. He was finally invited not by the voice of his father or his brothers but by the voice of the Lord through His prophet.

For those of us who think appearance is everything, do you have the invisible together as much as your appearance? That’s the life of integrity, where what is seen and what is unseen match up!!  No achievement, no success, no money, no title, no position is worth putting on a show that has no internal substance.

As for me, I don’t want to be a nice decoration at best or a whitewashed tomb at worst. Do you?

Humility is the path to life and salvation. When we come to Jesus, we have to have a certain level of humility to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of forgiveness. We have an understanding that there is nothing we can do to fix ourselves, but it is only through His blood and power that we can be changed.

Throughout our journey with God, humility will be one of the main ingredients that allows us to see what God desires for us. We will be able to see our true nature and how He wants to cut away those things that don’t belong to Him and replace them with His true character and godliness. This is also called our sanctification process. The more humble we are, the more benefit we can receive from the work of the Holy spirit in our lives!!

Here are some of the other benefits of Humility:

Humility is God’s will.

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.James 4: 6

Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.Proverbs 16:5

Pride is an abomination to God, and he resists a proud person. On the other hand, to those who are humble He gives them grace. Grace is the ability to do that which you cannot do in your own strength. Many times the enemy whispers in our ears, “if you are humble, you will miss out on something or you will be taken advantage of”. The scripture basically tells us that God supports a humble person. When you are on God’s side, you will have everything you need for life and godliness. He will give us what you need for the situation and He will back us up when we choose not to defend ourselves.

A humble person has true confidence.

My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Psalm 34:2

The world teaches a different brand of confidence, but the Bible shows us a very different picture. Jesus was the most humble man, but He was also the most confident man who over walked on the face of the earth.  He came into the world as a human being but did not strive to prove to everyone who He was. He was focused on the father’s business, teaching people the truth, loving the sinner and being about His kingdom more than He was trying to defend who he was.

Through humility wisdom is received.

When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom. Proverbs 11:2

God gives a humble person great wisdom on how to navigate through life, the decisions one has to make, and the right way of relating to people. This wisdom is not just an experiential wisdom based on past  success or failures. It is a heavenly understanding and solution to a situation. Through Godly wisdom we can access God’s mind and gain His perspective and solutions to a situation.

Humility cuts off selfish ambition.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.Phil 2:3-4

If you have noticed people who put others first, those who ask more questions rather than give answers are in a better relationship with others. These individuals don’t have to ensure everyone knows how capable and gifted they are, but they allow others to have room to grow and shine. That brings unity and love in the relationships and causes everyone to get built up and function in their proper place.

Humility allows us to submit to God and others.

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”1 Peter 5: 5

God always has government with established authority. The first authority is the Lord himself but He also has set others to be in authority. In the home, it is the authority of the husband over marriage, the authority of parents over the children. In school, it is the authority of principle and the teachers over the students. At work, it is the authority of the bosses over the employees, and at church it is the authority of pastor and the elders over the congregation. When people operate in humility, they are able to submit to the established authority, recognizing that it has been set up by the Lord, and as a result they can function better in their respected responsibilities and positions.

Those who are in authority must be impartial and always walk with humility, not exasperating those under them. Those in authority truly show their humility when they value those under them and speak warmly and kindly of their efforts or who they are as people. Each leader shows their humility when they recognize that the success of their respective organization is largely due to the people who are working with them and under them, and so they give credit where credit is due.

Humility brings people together. As God’s people who have been given the ministry of reconciliation, we are called to reach out to a lost world with great humility and love, not forgetting where we have come from.

Ask the Lord to forge a greater humility in your heart. It is His desire to do it. The enemy on the other hand will look for any weak spot to come in and knock on the door of your heart so you can give in to pride and strife.  When situations come up when you know that pride is about to raise its ugly head, recognize it for what it is and submit yourself to the Lord, and resist those thoughts and emotions. He will give us the grace to be His humble people!!

Pride is a distorted view of self. This causes problems in all of our relationships. We will examine pride in our relationship with the Lord, with others, and with self.

Relationship with the Lord

When Adam and Eve sinned, instead of repenting from their sin, Eve blamed the serpent, and Adam blamed God by saying, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” Genesis 3:12

Generally, one who is proud has a tendency on concentrating on God’s love and mercy and how special they are to the Lord. They don’t like to focus on God’s commands or discipline. There is a tendency to think that because they are special to God, they can make a lot of mistakes, overstep God’s boundaries, thinking God will be gracious to them without holding them accountable.

In Relationship to others

Proud people like to think they deserve more and deserve favor. They can have high expectations of others but low expectations of themselves. They can justify their bad behavior because it is usually someone else’s fault, or their part was very small compared to the other person.

There are two different sides to pride, “the victim” and “the fighter”. The victim says, “I don’t deserve this mistreatment.”, or “Why is this happening to me again?”  The other side of pride is the militaristic, judgmental, person who can quickly judge others based on their point of view, causing strife and unnecessary division. They would say something like, “That’s their fault. They sinned and they are responsible for it. I don’t need to be around people like that.”, or “How dare they do this to me?” They don’t mind cutting off relationships in the name of “truth” or “justice”.

Pride causes huge blind spots. We are so focused on what we see that we miss seeing the whole picture. A proud person is generally one-sided. This means they have little understanding as to how their actions impact others.  We must try to put ourselves in other people’s shoes rather than expecting others to put themselves in our shoes!! As the scripture tells us, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39

Relationship to Self

Pride gives an inflated view of self. Proud people think, they are right, the capable ones,  and others somehow are less or unworthy. Self becomes the lens that one sees everything through. This causes  a proud person to ask questions such as:” why did they say that ?” or “why doesn’t anyone care about me?”.

The Scripture tells us, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”Philippians 2:3

That’s difficult for the proud person, who must fight this internal battle in order to overcome self and do what the Bible tells us to.

In the earlier devotional,  I discussed having the proper security in our relationship with the Lord. Here I would like to discuss some of the things we can do to overcome pride in the way we relate to others:

1. Don’t be quick to cut off relationships. As hard as it is, work on reconciliation and peace.

2. When situations arise that causes you to go to the place of being a victim or a fighter, ask yourself:

What is my part in this situation? Did I do anything to contribute to the problem? Could this have been avoided if I had dealt with some of the issues earlier on?

This is a difficult thing to do because every part of you wants to defend yourself or try to explain that you were wronged. But it is an important step because the scripture tells us, “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?” Luke 6:41

3. Become a great listener. Once we have dealt with our part and repented, we are in a more humble position. If needed, we must confront the offense by talking to the person (Matthew 18:15). You need to make an effort to hear the other person’s point of view and not press your own point of view.

4. Work on building a bridge rather than pointing out the difference. If we are going to be the kind of people who will be known by our love towards one another, we must work on finding our common union rather than our personal differences.  Recognizing that each person is valuable and has something to offer is our responsibility.

5. Finally, we must learn to submit to one another. Don’t get too caught up in your position or others’ position. While those in authority should be respected, scripture clearly tells us that we should submit one to another.

Pride is a stronghold that we must war against. No one is immune from this. Pride will not go away casually; it will require a great resolve and courage to annihilate it!!

Pride continues to separate marriages, family, loved ones, groups of people, and even nations. As God’s people, it is incumbent upon us to show a different brand of humanity. Jesus set the highest standard of humility, and He called us to learn from Him. We can have many successes, but if we don’t have humility, it will look like a well-dressed person who smells bad!! We are called to have the aroma of Christ not just look good!!

There are different Hebrew & Greek words for “pride” in the Bible. So here is a summary of some of those definitions.

Definition of Pride: Inordinate self-esteem; the character of one who, with a swollen estimate of his own powers or merits, looks down on others and even treats them with insolence and contempt; to raise a smoke; to wrap in a mist; to blind with pride or conceit; to render foolish or stupid, empty, braggart talk.

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. James 4:7

Pride was at the root of devil’s fall. (Isaiah 14:13-15) He was choosing to exercise His will apart from the God’s will.

When we become proud, we come into agreement with the devil and his will. On the other hand, Jesus declared himself gentle and humble and he told us that we need to learn gentleness and humility from Him.(Matthew 11:28-29) That’s why the scripture tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. The devil stands on one side with his pride, arrogance, and self will. Jesus is on the other side with gentleness, meekness & humility. When we respond to a situation with pride, God will oppose us because pride is against the character of God. However, when we respond with humility, God gives us grace. Jesus was humble and that’s what brings delight to the Lord when we identify with Jesus.

What are some things that open the door to pride?

1. Feeling threatened. When people are fearful, their flesh wants to go into self-preservation mode. They do whatever they can to fight the so-called enemy. People stop trusting God. They jump into the driver’s seat of their life in an attempt to impact the situation in a certain direction. They start leaning on their own understanding and what is seen with the natural eyes rather than waiting for the Lord’s instruction or strategy.

2. Being offended. The sense of being wronged and unjustly treated takes people to the place of defending themselves and their rights. The problem with defending yourself is that while you may have valid points, it puts a smokescreen to your own issues and some of the things you need to address in your life and your attitude.

3. Being insecure about who we are and what we do. If people are not firmly grounded in who God says they are, when difficult or dry seasons come, it will cause them to become proud, brag about themselves or compete with others to feel better about their insecurities. You must remember there are seasons to everything under heaven, and ask the Lord to show you the season you are in. Your best friend may be in a different season than you are. You must also ask yourself, “Have I stayed in this season for too long because I haven’t been listening to the Lord’s instruction in this season?” Bragging about oneself or competing with others is never the answer. That’s not who God is and that’s not how the lord wants his children to operate.

4. Lack of revelation of who we really are apart from Christ. Regardless of our maturity or accomplishments in His kingdom, we must remember we are nothing apart from Him. Jesus is our righteousness, truth, and life. The devil can trap people by self-condemnation on one hand, and self-exaltation on the other hand, and it can all happen in one day!!! Believers have to be very careful in bringing their thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ by making sure their thoughts are lined up with the Bible. If not, they could live a schizophrenic life. The life of stability comes from aligning our lives with the word of God and allowing His will to direct us and correct us in the journey of life.

We will continue with the subject of pride in the next devotional. In the meantime, when situations arise that makes you want to defend yourself. Stop! Ask the Lord to show you your part in the situation before pointing out the shortcomings of the other person.

^“But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Romans 2:29

Praise of man is like a powerful and addictive medicine. Even a small amount can cause an overdose.  How do we discern the overdose on man’s praise? There are a few questions that we need to ask ourselves to evaluate our heart condition on this issue:

1. Before you agree to do any task, do you have a need to determine the visibility of the job?
2. When you do it, are you hoping that someone will appreciate it or will put a good word for you?
3. Will the quality of what you do be any different if you knew someone important will hear about it?
4. Will you be discouraged or disappointed if you didn’t get any attention or encouragement for a job well done?
5. If you do get any encouragement, does it warm your heart or does it exalt you?
6. Do you feel sad or left out when others are praised in front of you?
7. Do you find yourself behaving or speaking differently in front of someone depending on that person’s position or importance in your mind?

Any of the above could be a symptom of desiring man’s honor. If that’s the case, ask the Lord to cut off and circumcise any and every trace of that desire out of your heart. It will harm your heart towards God, and it can very easily derail you from God’s purpose for your life.

The Lord will allow us to have His honor as well as man’s honor. The Bible tells us that Jesus grew in stature and in favor with God and man. The issue is does man’s honor have first place in your life?

Paul said in Galatians 1:10b “For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”

If our aim and goal in life is to please God and not look around, to see if we have man’s honor, we will eventually have man’s honor as well. Our chief goal cannot be to have man’s honor or to see who is noticing us, because that is not pleasing to the Lord. The wrong focus will also make one lose man’s honor for you might have to compromise your integrity at some point to keep man’s honor. God tests the heart and the character and in time it will be evident what really matters to us.

One of the significant questions we must ask ourselves is, “Do I only hear the Lord within the framework of what I think is acceptable by those I deem important”? If so, we may be in trouble!