Tag: pride

Our Own Road

On By vickleaIn ScriptureLeave a comment

In my morning devotional, I have been reading the book of Jeremiah and pondering how much alike Israel was compared to the U.S. today.

God continually warns us to make right choices. If we study His Word, we will know the Godly way that we are supposed to take. Unfortunately, many people in the U.S. don’t know God’s Word and don’t want to read and find out what it says. As a result, instead of finding the rest and peace that their soul needs, they are continuing on the “road to perdition.” Satan generally makes his way look attractive, the “easy way” or the “way to riches, fame and glory.” We (and when I say we, I am referring to the people in the U.S.) typically choose any way but God’s way these days. Thus we are lost on a road of our own choosing.

As Christians, we are not lost but we are seeing more lost people every day. At least, I know that I am. I see them in the stores, on the roads and on the little snippets of media that I watch. They are all going their own way. What can we do? Put God’s Word out there for them to read. They may pay no attention to it, but at least they have been warned. Speak God’s Word into their hearts. Again, they may pay no mind to it, but at least they have heard. We cannot change people’s hearts; only God can do that. So, as we sow the seeds of His Word, we need to make sure that we have prayed and asked God to open hearts and minds to Him and to his Godly ways.

As I continue to read Jeremiah, I tend to get discouraged over the state of our nation and how comparable it is to Israel. False gods, a pretense at religion and a lot of pride. But I trust that God knows what He is doing and will make all things right in the end. After all, God has a plan and He is working to fulfill that plan. Jesus already died. Now we are awaiting His return and praying for as many people as possible to take the right path to God. We have to do our part; God has already done His.

God’s Judgment

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

At our church, we just finished the study of the Book of Revelation. The good news is that there’s a new Heaven and a new earth and God is the ruler, so no more corruption or temptation or sin. The bad news is that the good is preceded by God’s wrath, the final judgment. God has judged many nations throughout history and as I have been reading Isaiah for my devotional, I have seen that the wrath of God against Babylon parallels the wrath He demonstrates against the earth in Revelation.

I am not a Bible scholar, but I do know that in Isaiah God is speaking directly to Babylon and says that He will punish them severely. He will crush those who have shown only arrogance. God is not tolerant of pride at all. Think back to how Satan rebelled; he demonstrated pride and arrogance. To me, Babylon represents all nations, all people who stand up to God and say that they don’t need Him will be judged by God.

God’s original plan was for a perfect world without sin, but His plan was thwarted by Satan’s temptation and the choice of mankind to sin. God’s judgment cannot be stopped. It is coming. Babylon was an example, a prototype, if you will, of the judgment to come. I know that God must be looking on the world with deep sorrow because He has done all He can to save mankind from itself and the desire to follow their own ways. But once His wrath is unleashed, He will not be stopped by anyone.

I am not fearful of God’s wrath. I am fearful of how much destruction mankind will cause with their wickedness before God judges. God’s timing is perfect and I trust Him to stop the madness at just the right time, just as He sent Jesus at just the right time. In the meantime, I am praying for many to come to the Lord so that they don’t face God’s great judgment and wrath.

Lessons from Hosea

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

Hosea is one of the most interesting books in the Bible since God tells Hosea, a prophet, to marry a woman who will be unfaithful and then to forgive her. It is a beautiful word picture of how much God puts up with us and forgives us, again and again. This morning in my devotional, some of the verses from Hosea jumped out at me and I want to share them with you today.

Like the rich and powerful in today’s world, Israel boasted of being “self made,” forgetting completely all that God had done for them. Aren’t we the same way? When things are going well for us, we tend to pat ourselves on the back and take all of the credit for all of the good things happening in our lives. May we never forget to give God all of the glory and praise!

Again, we tend to forget God when we are satisfied with our lives. Our pride takes over, we become self-sufficient and distance ourselves from God and the relationship with Him. May we never forget that the Lord is the one who provides for us and sustains us!

God is always willing to meet us more than halfway if we will just confess and return to Him. Too often, once we have turned our backs on God, we get further and further away from Him and forget all about His welcoming love and forgiveness. May we never forget that our Father in Heaven always has open arms to receive us!

We are all walking down the path of the Lord, the one that He has set before us to travel. For those of us who have established and kept our relationship with God, the path offers life, safety, security, restoration and peace. For the sinners, it is a path filled with traps into which they stumble and fall. God doesn’t want the sinners to fall for eternity, so my thought is that He is with them on the path just as He is with us because He is trying to get them to focus on Him and not on the path to what they would call success in life. May we stay on the right path in the right way, listening only to God’s directions and find ourselves walking steadily closer to eternity with Him!

God Will Arise

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

While we Christians sometimes despair at all of the wickedness in the world, let me assure you that God is not dismayed. He knows, and we should know, that God will not forever put up with all of this foolishness. Pride month? We know what God’s Word says about pride, right?

So our heartfelt and faithful prayer should be for God to rise up.

And to that prayer, I can only say: Amen!

Important to God

On By vickleaIn Quotation and Citations, Scripture1 Comment

I don’t watch awards shows anymore and it’s not just because they have become such an outright blasphemous display. I stopped watching them long ago when I realized that every award show is just a group of boastful people tooting their own horns loudly. My philosophy is that those who are doing good do it quietly and God rewards them, not the academy of motion pictures or the other musicians or even a group of fans. Doing good is without a lot of fanfare because one generally does it to benefit others, not to make themselves look good. It annoys me when millionaires announce that they have given a great sum of money to a certain charity. I would be more convinced of their generosity if they did it and didn’t then tout it everywhere.

Mother Theresa was a giver, deep in her heart and soul and for all of her life. So what if you don’t feel lauded by the world, appreciated and praised? That is not our purpose here on earth. God made each of us for a reason and He knows how important we are, so that is what really counts.

The Scriptures tell us numerous times not to boast or be filled with pride. The real reward comes from God when we stand before Him and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” I would rather have a “well done” accolade from the Lord than the applause of many empty-hearted people who don’t even know the real me. God knows the real me, the one that wants to do my best for Him, and He loves me and counts me as worthy of the death of His Son. I’m not really anyone important, but to God, I am His beloved daughter, and that’s enough.

May you be blessed with the knowledge of your worth before the Lord God and know that you are important to Him.

Humility

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

This is a word that is hard to define or even describe. It’s much easier to think about its antonyms than its synonyms. When I looked up the word in an online dictionary, I found that it is defined as lowliness, with an antonym being pride. Well, that wasn’t much help. Jesus was humble and I want to grow in that trait, but I don’t know how if I can’t understand the definition. In my struggle, I finally came to terms with the fact that if I am thinking of myself first, I am not showing humility. If I consider myself “more than” others, whether it is more intelligent, more talented, prettier, etc. I am not being humble. Our yardstick of measurement is always the Lord and I am always less than in His presence. So, what is the purpose of humility?

It is when we are humble that we are teachable. That is when the Lord can guide us, when we get off our throne of knowledge and self-sufficiency and admit that we are nothing without the Lord. There is nothing I am and nothing that I can do without His guiding hand and help. He teaches me daily the way I should go, the things I should say (or in my case, it is mostly the things I should not say) and the people that I should approach and offer encouragement. But God can only do that if I am willing to put myself out there before Him and listen to what He is telling me to do and say and be. That means starting off with being humble before the King of the Universe.

When we humble ourselves before God, we don’t stay in that position forever. God lifts us up if we will allow Him to do so. It is when we are “tooting our own horns” that we cannot hear God’s instructions and the encouragement that only He can give. The promise is that He WILL lift you up, but this is like a conditional promise. First you humble yourself and then He does the “good job” part. I have found that sometimes I get ahead of God and I’m patting myself on the back before He can even tell me what else I need to do or what I should have done instead. That is not humility in action but pride and God has had to show me numerous times that I need to take a step back and see things the way He sees them, including taking a good look at myself and my efforts. I may have the best intentions but if what I am doing is to glorify myself, I am destined to failure. Sometimes, it will look like success, but it will never be what God intended for it to be unless I learn His ways and practice the humility that will give Him all the glory, recognizing that I am a tool in the hands of the Almighty.

May you be blessed today as you go out and come in, as you meet others and as you are seen by God and by those you meet. May they see Christ in you, the humble servant of His Father.