Tag Archives: pride

The Division

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I doubt that it is possible for man to understand the things I am about to say.  For he will perceive through his own understanding.  And the understanding of man is filtered through greedy desire.

I do not mention greedy desire as a slur, but simply as a fact of his own nature.  For every man is born of severe limit.  Ignorance, death and sickness belong to him.  Wherever he perceives an individual who is overcoming these things, he desires with greed to have (or with his pride, to reject).

You want the love of God’s people.  You reject them because they do not love you as you love yourself.  In the weakness of your being, you think it abhorrent that anyone should love God’s ways more than they love you.

But you do not understand the differences in love.  We love you as a matter of mutual weakness.  For the things that plague you also plague us.  Ignorance, sickness and death cover all men.  So that the love we have for you is born of compassion.

But the love we have for the Living God’s Holy Son, is not filled with compassion!  He is endlessly wise, full of life, power beyond the wildest imagination of man, and eternal.  Our love for Him is full of awe, reverence, worship, thanks and praise.  How is it possible for us to give you this same love?

We serve you with the compassion that is born from our love for God.  But your pride gets in the way.  You don’t want to be thought of as weak.  You don’t want pity, unless it comes dressed as excuse.

There is so much more to say regarding this.  But let this stand as it is.  Those who will ponder these things may well find understanding.  For in their pondering, they may turn to God to understand.

Do not think we chide you because we hate you.  We hate the weakness that was ours.  As long as that weakness still dresses you, you receive the hatred of those who love God.  Yet even in our hatred for the things that cover you, you receive our compassion.  Even as our own weakness has received the compassion of God.

Yet with compassion, we deliver you the message of God.  Boldly, we deliver you the messages of warning.  Boldly, we speak to tear down the things you currently love.  We make fun of what you think is sincere.  For there is no life in the ways of man.

We know you will not accept our word as long as you are dressed in pride.  For you consider us rebellious.  We were once of you.  And now you can’t understand why we have turned against you.  But the compassion of God within us, drives us forward to speak, regardless your response.

You are urged to come and be with us.  Not a single man who loves the Living God in Christ Jesus, desires this division to remain.  What holds you back is not our hatred for the things that now cover you; as if we are snobish and proud.  What hold you back is your own weakness in pride.

Only the Living God will reveal these things, and this through his most excellent wisdom.  The weakness of flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God.  Only those things born of the Holy Spirit of God may enter the kingdom of heaven.  You cannot join us without the humility of Christ covering you.  You cannot truly love us unless your sins are forgiven.

May the Living God, the Holy Father of Christ Jesus, His Holy and Righteous Son, have mercy to wisely open the eyes of all who read this.

By His Grace

“I’m a Man!”

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With every thought.  With every action.  With every word he speaks.  Man proclaims, “I am a man”.

With pride of accomplished adulthood, man stands.  As if there is something to be proud about, by the simple doings of expectations.

How many perceive the shame of man?  How many are able or willing to perceive the length, width, height, and depth that is God?  With such a perception, man is no more than a tiny baby.

Wisdom escapes man; holy wisdom from ancient of ages escapes man.  The doings of God that were done endless years before the creation of Adam.  Where is this wisdom among man?  How small is every man?

With every prayer.  With every desire.  With every movement of soul and body.  The man of God seeks the will of God.

Where is the boasting pride of man before God’s Holy Throne?  Such things are not even allowed entrance.

Regret is But a Vapor

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Among men, there are things that are referred to as truth.  In this place of testing, this place where wickedness is king, such a statement has a moment of viability.  For men will do what they do.  They will accept what they consider profitable.  And they will praise one another for obedience to the expectations of men.

But there is a place where such things called truth will leave all their hands empty.  They will be void of praise for the One who has allowed them freedom to do as their pleasure has demanded.  When Glory no longer allows the pleasure of men, they will have no praise for God.

They give gifts to one another for the sake of worthless profit.  But their hands will be full of regret, at the time of appearing before Him.

How can I help you, my brothers of flesh?  How can I inspire you to gather profit?  How can this tiny man urge you to fill up your gifts for Him?  How can these words displace the pleasure of man within the souls of my fellow man?

Please consider, with the greatest sobriety, how that moment will be.  Every man will see the Holy Angels bowing at the Glory of Christ Jesus.  Every man will witness those whose hands are filled with the Holy Works of God.  Every man will hear the praise, that holy praise, which is rightfully due to the One who has redeemed their souls.  And shame will fill those with empty hands.

Eternity, that great door of Life, will open for those who accept the Lord’s offer of humility.  Void of pride, they will enter His Holy Kingdom.  While the great assembly of eternal dead are ushered to their place of horror, the righteous will abound in joy.

Who are the righteous?  Are they those whose own works of pleasure has filled their holy hands?  No.  This is a fable of man.  The pride of man has promoted this lie.  The righteous are those who have sought the Living God.  It is God who has endowed them with righteous and eternal ways.  They have received!  They have not provided for themselves.

Such people will have what cannot be taken away.  For what belongs to God will remain forever.  But the pleasure, pride, accomplishments of the flesh, and desire for what brings temporary peace, will utterly be void of praise for the Living God.

Regret is a vapor.  Do not let your hands be filled with vapor when you appear before Him.  He offers you profit this very moment.  Be full.  Become profitable for He who is Life Eternal.  Let Him dress you according to His Holy Will.  Why would we remain naked all our days here?

Hard Questions

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Why don’t we ask each other the hard questions?:  Why are we so timid when it comes to confrontation?  How can the answer be any other than fear?

“If I confront him about this, there’ll be friction.”

Why?  Because of pride.  It lives and breathes within every man with the ferocity of a wild beast.  Wake him and you will certainly incure abuse.

What’s the fix?  Stop coddling each other!  Learn to take it on the chin.  Learn to deliver Life to your brother, regardless the cost.  Learn to listen to wisdom!

The Lord will help you deliver the punching questions with humility.  If they retaliate, you earn the right to say you have been persecuted for Truth’s sake.

Who do you fear the most?  The Living God, or man?

What more needs to be said here?  I’ve asked the hard question.  What’s your response?  I didn’t couch this in “PC”, because I want you to see how strongly bound, in each of us, Pride really is.

Why isn’t humility and a teachable spirit bound more tightly?

Shod Feet

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I don’t have to work hard to prove how desirable a good pair of shoes can be.  If I were talking to women, there would be no need to say that at all!  What women know about shoes would be useful among any crowd.

(Just between you and me: when it comes to shoes, women seem to have an uncanny knack.  At this point, men usually just bow their head and leave.  There are some things in life that simply say, “Do not touch”.)

But let’s switch gears just a bit.  Let’s go back to the time of Adam.  All that was necessary for the creation of the first shoes, was an encounter with the first thorns.   Simple math: Foot = vulnerable ergo, protect!

Man is designed to require protection for his feet.  All our weight rests on two small pieces of skin.  And these are no ordinary pieces of skin.  They can feel the tiniest pieces of dust on a hardwood floor.  Immeasurably more intense is the feeling of sharp objects.  So we clothe them out of utility.  We clothe them out of desperation. 

But desperation has multiple definitions.  Vanity appears on the scene and destroys everything.  What was originally intended to protect us from pain, became perverted to protect us from the judgment of others.

Soon men noticed how they were regarded by the type of shoes they owned.  Soon, ornate replaced utility.  Soon, shoes carried more than the body.  Soon shoes carried the pride of man.

So it has been, even with the clothing of men.  But shoes receive special prominence.  They have become a reflection of the man’s intent.  They carry him to the place of his desire.  They perform what the man considers valuable. Most often, they are a reflection of his character.

Is he an obscure working man? 

His shoes will show where he has been. 

Is he one who desires fame and profit? 

You will see your own reflection in them.
                ~
There are shoes that scream out “fun”. 

There are shoes that say, “Get-er done”.

Shoes that advertise,
“Look what I own”.

And shoes that say,
“You’d better leave me alone”!
               ~

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Boots of pride
That kill with neglect. 
As they approach
There is no “howdy”. 
They carry a head
That remains in the clouds;
Aloof from the pain of others.

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Sandals of humility,
Come to embrace with life.  As they approach,
You are their intent. 
They carry a head
Created to wear
A crown of thorns instead;
Forever mindful
Of the pain of others.
He is Lord, and rightly so!

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'”  (Isaiah 52: 7)

Jack me down or hold me up. 

I prefer a leader of latter.

Become like him,

Or reside within.

I choose to climb His ladder.

By His Grace

The Beast at My Door

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Humility is a fleeting beauty

For the sake of the beast within.

She comes to kiss with eternal lips.

And thus, for a moment,

The beast is subdued.

But soon he finds a bobble,

That others do not have;

A rock, a leaf, a twig, or sand,

And he rises once again.
                      ~
Sin of pride crouches,

At the threshold of our door.

He desires to have us,

That he may have “what’s more”.

This horrible, putrid way of man;

This pride of life says, “Yes I can,

Be more than my brothers or sisters can be”!

To be equal with satan’s sin, you see.

The Apostle Paul had mentioned with three,

Prayerful attempts to be rid of thee.

But God in His Wisdom knows His design:

“My Grace is sufficient,

Humility’s mine”.

It’s given to man to endure and subdue,

That hideous beast that is me, that is you.

The deadliest animal ever to live,

Can be muzzled and chained

By the Glory that’s His.

By His Grace