This is a post I wrote 5 1/2 years ago. Isn’t funny that the message is still relevant!?
The other day, I was coming home from taking Jacob to school. ?I was driving through the school zone when someone drove by me. ?Obviously not driving the posted school zone speed limit.
My first thought was, “I hope that cop is sitting up there, I can’t believe they would speed through a school zone.”
It was almost immediately, I felt the Lord speak to my spirit, “Why are you doing the speed limit? ?You don’t do it because it’s the law or the right thing to do, you do it to make yourself feel proud, to feel better than someone else!”
OUCH!! That hurt! ?Even worse, it was true. ?It didn’t matter to me if I was getting praised for obeying the law, because in my own mind, I was the bomb. ?I thought about it every time I drove through a school zone, but not really much beyond that.
Not until the other day. ?I was listening to the radio, driving home from work, when the dj Brant, relayed an experience he had that morning. ?It was so similar to mine, that it gave me pause.
He said, and keep in mind, I’m paraphrasing, that he was looking out the window that morning, and the first thing he thought was, “thank you, Lord, for such a beautiful day.” ?Then how awesome it was of him to have that as his first thought.
A lesson in pride. ?I know we all battle with it. ?Me, a lot! ?I have this need to know stuff, I don’t always have to be right, in spite of what some folks may think, but I want to be. ?I take pride in what I know, in my ability to help people because of that knowledge. ?And if I don’t know something, or it’s wrong, I learn it. ?I won’t be wrong next time.
That’s how you make better yourself, right?
I’ve come to notice all kind so things about pride. ?You can be prideful when you think you are being humble. ?Prideful when you think you are righteous and prideful when you think you are holy.
Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Wow, so I shouldn’t take pride in a job well done? ?I don’t think that’s what it means. ?I think it’s purely talking about your attitude.
Let’s say you make supper for your family. ?They tell you who good it is, that they really like it. ?Pride would say, “look at me, I’m the greatest. ?I can cook like Rachel Ray (or whoever your favorite is!). ?I bet so and so’s family doesn’t think she can cook as well as my family thinks I can.
You get the drill, it may not sound just like this, but you know what it sounds like in your head!
But, then there is JOY! ?When you find joy in your families delight. ?You find joy in making something beautiful or just seeing something beautiful, something that has nothing to do with you at all.
And PEACE. ?When you do something because it’s right, not because it makes you look important. When you live in the knowing and not in the being.
I think that’s what I want. ?Joy and Peace. ?I want to do well and do good, not because it makes me look like a big shot, but because it is what I am called to do. ?It is who I am called to be in Christ.
So, I found a few verses I wanted to share. ?I plan to memorize them because I need to be able to call on them when my ego needs some humbling. ?It could be a lot!
By the way, some of these verses are very appropriate for the times we are in right now and the issues we are facing in our country.
Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
John 15:1-12 “If you keep My commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ?I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ?My command is this, love each other as I have love you.”
Philippians 2:1-4 “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. ?Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Romans 14:17-19 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. ?In this world, you will have trouble. ?But take heart! ?I have overcome the world.”
May you be encouraged to know, that regardless of the storm, God is still in control.
Be bless today!