| | "Let another man praise you and not your own mouth" was a verse my sister loved as a child and would quote to the rest of us on a regular basis. It became a joke in a way, to teasingly bring someone back down to earth if they started thinking too much of themselves. Have you read the book of Proverbs? Wow. Talk about practical advice on how to live a good, peaceful life - a life that pleases God. I've read it through and want to again. One thing I noticed that made me laugh is that in almost every chapter, one of the proverbs has to do with nagging women/wives. I think that's a window into the life of the one who wrote them don't you? I mean, listen to this one, "A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day." One of my favorite proverbs is Prov. 11:22, "A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout." I tell you, it's an entertaining book.
I digress.
Back to the thinking much of oneself issue. I have thought a lot about it and have come to this conclusion: Pride is the root of all sin, the root of our rebelion and separateness from God. Do you agree? As I think about sin, anything we do or say that goes against God's high standards, I can trace each one back to problematic pride. Pride keeps us from admitting we've done wrong, from reconciling with someone else in a relationship because they've "offended us" for goodness sake, from loving people the way Jesus did because we're caught up in ourselves, from giving up control to God because we think we can do better. Face it, that really must be why we do that. Pride can keep you from forgiving someone, from accepting someone, from submitting to God's will or plan because it doesn't make sense to us, which down deep means we think we know better.
There are many verses that tell us we should think of others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3), be careful not to think too highly of ourselves (Romans 12:3), to humble ourselves following Jesus' example (Phil. 2:5-8), to consider other's needs before our own, and on and on. In fact, Matthew 23:11-12 tells us, "The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
In order to walk in Jesus' steps we have to figure out how to keep pride at bay. We're not supposed to berate ourselves because Jesus also said to love our neighbors as ourselves. Maybe our self esteem and ability to love come from remembering our place and what God has done for us, that we're his children and that alone gives us our worth. If we remember that our relationship with God has nothing to do with us or anything we've done, surely our pride wouldn't cause so much trouble.
God help me remember! |
| | Posted 2/21/2009 10:43 AM - 13 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
