Tag Archives: pride

Ownership

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From the bravado of a foolish man who thinks he can endure hell, to the pompous nature of the self righteous, who thinks he is something when he is not.  The folly of man’s pride reaches deep.

We did not invent sin.  Sin was in heaven long before we were even created.  And so was righteousness in all its purity.  Righteousness and rebellion go back a long way my friend.  You are nothing new.

Cain was only the first to murder among men.  He was not the first to murder.  So where does that place any other man whose hands are filthy?  And Abel was the first righteous man among men.  He was not the first one who was righteous.  So how can the self-righteous think so highly of themselves with any means to quantify?

By every account man is nothing.  He does not have a patent on wickedness.  And he can have no claim to righteousness.  By every account man is nothing unless it is given to him from above.  Or unless he is inspired, by those who came before, to the rebellion against the Living God.

Where then does pride among men stand?  My friend, you are simply not that important.  At best you can only be used by those who came before, whether for bad or good.

By His Grace

The Ladder of Truth

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A man saw a ladder in the distance.  Perceiving correctly that it was the ladder of truth, desire burned within him to climb.

And as he climbed, he saw that the ladder raised him above his fellow men.  So with gosto, he began to proclaim what he found. 

He saw that the people were shocked by the things he said.  So he spoke all the more boldly.  And with good intent.

In his great boldness, however, he did not pay attention to his footing.  As he neared a place of difference in the ladder, he lost his grasp and tumbled down.

The fate of the man need not be mentioned.  But the reason for his fall is most profound.

If a man tries to scale truth, while still carrying his pride,  he will not climb long.  He may survive the fall, for the Lord has promised to keep his own.  But it is strongly advised that we should shed those things that destroy.

By His Grace

Even Me

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Reflection from today’s Bible reading:

Yes, even the one who writes this.  Even he will be brought low.  The evil that is in Him will be purged; a consuming fire will burn it away, from the present and from eternity.

Pride will be crushed.  There will be no foothold for it to climb the Holy Mountain of God.  The narrow mindedness of unholy desire will be set on fire.  And what remains will undergo refinement.

Even the one who writes this, will succumb to the Glory of the Sovereign God.  For God’s judgment is against all wickedness in all men.  And he will bring Man’s state of affairs to an abrupt end.

There will be no further place where the Word of God is wedged between brothers for the sake of gain.  For even now many use the word of God to subject their brothers to shame.  Secretly in their hearts they keep count of their victims.  Trophies of battle, line the shelves of their halls.  They have converted what is Holy to what is obscene.  And the Most High God is witness to it all.

Divide, divide, cutaway at one another.  There is a place of judgment.  And even the one who writes this will be purified.  God is no respecter of man.

The pride of life enters into a man’s things, like fine dust in an unkempt house.  Who is he that is diligent to clean?  Who is he who opens the drapes that the light of Righteousness might expose his filth?  Who is he who cleans his house so that the consuming fire will have less to consume?  For everyone will be bathed in the Holy Fire of God’s righteous judgment.

No religion will shield you.  For not one man does the Holy laws he holds up for others to see.  Woe to all men for the sake of their pride.  Blessings and peace belong exclusively to those who do the will of God in Christ Jesus, His holy and Righteous Son.  Yet every man will be cleansed in regard to what remains.

The motivation of the heart will be exposed.  The secret desires spilled out.  It will come upon the righteous.  It will envelop the most wicked.  And all those in between will be dealt with in truth and righteousness.  Yes, even upon the one who writes this.

By His Grace

The Proud and the Weak

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“God and religion are useless to me.  They are for the children and the weak.  I’ll take real life.  Keep your “holy” garbage out of my sight.  All it does is weaken my resolve to survive.”

And another:

“I can’t move!  I’m afraid to think for myself.  I’m afraid to accept the promises of God, for I fear it will ask too much of me.  Keep your “holy” words far from me.  I would rather hide here in my darkened cave, than turn and face what you call “light”.

Isn’t that what you say?  Perhaps you don’t say it in words.  But your actions are clear.

Weak, you say?  My friend, you have no idea what strength it takes to believe.  And what good would it do to try to explain to you how much strength it takes to submit to the Living God’s Christ?  You know nothing about overcoming sin.  And you are not able to conceive what difficulties await every moment, as His people walk “The Way”.

No, my friend, it is you who are weak.  Look how you suffer under the burden of expectations.  Look what the world demands of you.  Look at your inability to perform with consistency.  Look at your own fear level.  You’re the one who’s weak.  The very fact that you stand with bravado, tells me how weak you are.

I’ve lived among the drunks.  I’ve lived among the proud.  I’ve come to recognize the signs of fear.  The cocky one who brags about all the things he can do.  That’s the one whose the weakest.  The strength of his life is found in his violent hands and quivering lips.  You call that strength?

And you who cower in a corner.  You who keep the windows of your life closed.  How utterly helpless you are to go outside anymore.  You turn away from Christ.  You turn to religion, in its various forms.  You keep to yourself, the things that are true and eternal.  If indeed, you have them at all.

You who cower look at the victorious and moan.  You think you can’t achieve anything.  How utterly weak are you?  But at least you recognize your weakness.  You are not like the proud, you don’t brag about your weakness.  But you have it just the same.

The proud.  The fearful.  Both miss the central point of the Gospel.  “I will be your strength!  It is I who will lift you up.  Humble yourself before Me, and in due time, I will lift you up.  The weak will become strong.  The proud will be humbled.  The Way of the Lord shall remain, narrow and Holy.”

The proud looks to weakness.  The fearful looks to strength.  Both fear to move, lest what they love is crushed.  The proud fears to lose his strength.  The fearful fears to lose his excuses.  But The Way of the Lord moves through the sea of men, unscathed, unhindered, eternally set, and arriving at perfection.

Put down your pride.  Put down your fear.  Stop groveling in your putrid mess.  Look up and believe!

Fasting and Sabbath

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What has this world taught me about rest?  What a curious mix of instruction.

“Be diligent and do everything that’s expected of you!  If there is time at the end of the day you may rest.  If you do this consistently for a year, we may speak of a vacation.  If that vacation appears, then you can do what pleases you.”

This is what men call rest.  They do and do and do, so that they can do what they please.  They strike themselves hard for the sake of prosperity.  Then take what they have earned, and go and do as they please.  Is this really a prosperous rest?

In the doing of this kind of rest,  America turned away from the Sabbath when I was a boy.  The stores no longer closed and we ceased to go to church.  Is this what you call rest, America?  Yes it is.   And you live out your Sabbath every day of the week without fail.

There’s no need to throw that at you as if it is a condemnation.  That condemnation will do you no good.  For you will not turn because someone rightly accuses you.  It’s simply a truth.

And isn’t it just as well that you have tossed away the Sabbath of God, that day when you restrain yourself for an hour or two from doing the things you desire to do.  For when you kept that day you did not keep His way.  Perhaps it is good that someone finally rose up and closed the door.

The Sabbath is not Sunday.  The Sabbath is not Saturday.  The Sabbath of God is a way of life.

I will not bother to interpret it to you.  Rather, I will give you the words of God Himself.

1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousnessa will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.  (Isaiah 58)

Perhaps a person may read this who has No desire to serve the living God.  Perhaps they will laugh and say to themselves, “This doesn’t apply to me”.  Aren’t you created also?  Doesn’t the one who created you desire you to come to him?

Now I know the gospel of the world, which is no gospel at all.  You say I will be kind to my brother and that will be enough.  But in this you are kind to your brother for no reason at all.  For you do not do these things that the Most High God may dwell in your heart.  You do these things that you may be considered a righteous man.

The pendulum of Man swings far to the left and far to the right.  From complete disobedience to a presumption of glory, the will of Man is not dependable.

Between rebellion and false humility is the Holy Lord God Almighty.  This is the place his Holy Son walked as he was among us.  The entirety of his life was for the Glory of his Father.  He did nothing to glorify Himself.

I don’t want to write a book about it.  If any man will look into these things he will learn far more than I can say.  The question is are you willing to look into these things?

By His Grace

The Fashion Police

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Attire of the rich changes from day to day.  Their majesty is not stability, it is chaos.  They lock away acceptance by changing the combination often.  They give the number to those they choose.  Then before it is finished receiving the number is changed again.

What is this fashion?  Is it the sum of things a man might own?  No, this fashion of theirs cannot be held in the hand.  This fashion of theirs is a game of exclusion, and a ruse.

They make the rules of acceptance.  They are the final authority on the love of man.  They themselves are the police who jail all others at will.  They are the judge of what is good and what is evil.  No one enters without their consent.  And those who are in, can be cast away without explanation.  They are the rulers of all creation!

Am I speaking of the rich?  Am I speaking of the famous?  Am I speaking of celebrities, or the great leaders of this world?

Who is he who makes his own rules?  Who is he that excludes others from his friendship?  Who is he who judges by appearance?  Who is he who condemns without hearing the man’s excuses?  Who is he who loves himself more than others?

Does it take power to hate?  Does it take the fame to be proud?  Does it take excellent clothing to consider one’s self as royal? 

Why should I provide the answer to all these questions?  You would not accept them if I did.  There, you answer them!  You are the one who polices your own fashion.  Then answer these questions if you can.

From the pathetic beggar on the street, to the fool who lives in opulence, we have all turned away from the Living God.  We have set a lock on the door of our heart.  We will be king!  God himself will bow to us!  We will have his throne!  Let us simply lay our hands on him, and we will kill him!

You say this is crazy talk!  Is it now?  Prove it to me.  Show me what a tiny place you have left for the rule of God in your life.  Show me the doors of your heart.  Prove to me you have removed the locks.

By His Grace