Pride Is The Only Thing Between Me and My God-Given Destiny!
The only thing that stands between me and the future God wants to give me is pride. Impatience is the soil pride grows out of. The fruit of pride is all of the lawlessness we see in the world.
Pride invites me to control what only God should and to neglect what God has given me to care for.
Humility puts me back into the truth to see what I bring to my relationship with God and what God brings.
God brings all the wisdom, all the direction, all the love, all the increase, grace, blessing... All the success and all of the righteousness.
I know I am in pride when I am concerned for the success of the endeavor God is orchestrating and myself appearing righteous. If I obey God I will be successful and He will be seen as righteous. It's guaranteed. Pride takes God's place and neglects its own, out of an impatient fear of failure.
If God is orchestrating it, it will be successful. If I am orchestrating it, it will fail. It might even look like success to other people, but it will fail to deliver more of my trust to God.
The less I trust God, the less He will do in my life. He refuses to take the ground of my heart. It must be given to Him. That is my humble part to do. The flip side is that God will let me delusionally take His place and think I am serving Him. He is so patient, gentle, and kind. The fear of the Lord encompasses the fear of His gentleness!
God will let me pick my God/god.
If I pick Him, He will do miracles with anything I give Him of me... but He requires it be of me. He rejects what I give Him that isn't mine to give. I can't give Him you, or the world, or things that are already His... I have to give Him me. Tithing, offering, sacrifice...these are all expressions, if done in God, of giving God the giver, not the gift.
He owns everything but my heart, which He sovereignly crafted then gave me to do what I want with. Me, and the ground I occupy in any given moment, are mine to give.
Everything else is His.
He is so serious about the integrity of authority.
Genesis 4:2-7 NLT — Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.
When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD. Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. “Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
There is only one thing broken. That means only one thing is required. All the ways things don't work right are simply symptoms of one broken thing. All the sickness, warring, jealousy, quarreling, lack, division and discouragement... and the impatience unto pride that grows with each passing hour of brokenness... all boils down to one broken thing.
Luke 10:42 NLT — There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
When Jesus spoke to the rich young ruler, He didn't validate all of the young man's striving for obedience and tell him to add one more conquest to his list of righteous acts! He told the young man he had wasted all his efforts on the wrong things. He STILL lacked the one thing necessary!
All the things the rich young ruler had tried to do in his pride would have been done better in this one act of humility.
He walked away from that one thing and wasted all his efforts to be as righteous as God rather than to be led by God.
Luke 18:22 NLT — When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Often in my life, God has promised me something, given me something, then asked me to carry it up the hill to sacrifice the very thing he gave. If my life is here on the earth, it's impossible to give it all away and walk into the new thing with a faithful and hopeful countenance. If my life is hidden with Jesus, I don't need to build anything here or keep anything here. I can store it all there and keep moving here.
Everyone you read about in the Bible did the same thing. David let Solomon build the temple. The disciples started churches they never kept. One sowed and another watered but God made it all grow.
The prideful add to their list of things that are theirs. The humble add to their list the things they have given to God.
Are you and I willing to let God take the whole lump of clay that is our lives and throw it back on the potter's wheel as He sees fit? If not, we've made ourselves God.
Luke 9:23-26 NLT — Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.
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