Tag: Christianity

Pride Is Self-Idolatry

On By BrianIn Humility Quotes, Idolatry Quotes

Pride is self-idolatry.  God alone is to be worshipped and served because His will is supreme and He alone is God, but pride asserts that man should take supremecy over God.  God proclaimed through Isaiah, “My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 48:11).  God will not tolerate a usurper who attempts to rise above him.  God hates pride because the proud man sets himself up in opposition to God.  The proud man attempts to steal the glory that God alone deserves.

– Wayne A. Mack in
Humility: The Forgotten Virtue

Humility Before God, Part 2

On By BrianIn Virtue of Humility

Humility before God is a right recognition of who God is and who I am that leads to a right response.  We must recognize that God is our Creator and we are his creatures.  We must recognize that God is holy and we are not.  From that right recognition flows a right response.  Here are four:

Humble Obedience (Luke 17:7-10)

A servant does what he is commanded to do.  If God is our Creator, if he made us, then he has the right to command us.  As we recognize this, we should humbly obey.  Pride, of course, rears its ugly head here and says, “I don’t want to obey.  I want to do my own thing.  Don’t tell me what to do.”  Pride exalts us to God-status.  But humility calls us to humbly obey the one true God.

Humble Service (Luke 17:7-10)

If God made us, then we belong to him.  As such we owe him our service.  It is simply our duty.  We don’t deserve any prize, recognition, praise, or anything for our service.  We simply are doing what we should do.  This is humble service.

John the Baptist is a prime example of humble service.  Here is a man with one of the greatest roles in all of history, but he doesn’t get a big head.  He says that Jesus is greater, mightier, worthier.  Indeed, he says that he is not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandal (Luke 3:18).  In other words, he is not worthy to do serve Jesus in the most menial task.  Nor are we.  But Jesus calls us to serve him.  What a privilege!  As we grasp this we begin to offer humble service.

But John goes further.  He says Jesus must increase but he must decrease (John 3:30).  In other words – don’t look at me, look at him.  It isn’t about me.  It is all about him.  Pride makes us forget this.  Pride makes it all about me.  Pride make my service about what I can get out of it.  But it is all about him.  When we grasp this, we can follow John in offering humble service that points others to Jesus.

Humble Gratitude (Luke 17:11-19)

One cleansed leper returns to humbly fall at Jesus’ feet and give him thanks.  As we saw in the last section, we deserve nothing.  But Jesus blesses us like he blessed the leper.  As we recognize who God is and who I am, we ought to be amazed at God’s blessings.  What is man that you are mindful of him? (Psalm 8:4).  The more we grasp this right recognition, the more we will be incredibly grateful and humbly give thanks.  Pride is not grateful.  Pride demands.  Pride expects.  Pride thinks it deserves; it is entitled.  As long as we think this way, we can never be grateful.  Gratitude only flows from humility.

Humble Confession (Luke 18:9-14)

The tax collector had a right recognition of who God is and who he is.  So he offers humble confession: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (v13).  The Pharisee is caught up in his own good works.  He is impressed with himself and thinks his good works impress God.  That is pride.  Pride thinks we are pretty good on our own.  Pride forgets we are sinners.  A right recognition that God is holy and I am not will lead to humble confession.

The Great Reversal (Luke 18:14)

One final amzing thing.  If we walk in pride, God will humble us.  But if we humble ourselves before our holy Creator, he will exalt us.  He will exalt us with his love (see Psalm 103).  And in his love, he humbled himself to become one of us.  In love, he humbled himself to die on a cross for our sins that we might be forgiven and declared holy in his sight.  And as we humbly believe in what Jesus did for us, we are exalted.  We are exalted to a relationship with God.  We are exalted as temples of God who now lives in us.  We are exalted as children of God.  We are exalted to a great inheritance.

Humility is a right recognition of who God is and who I am that leads to right responses.  And the amzing thing is, if we humble ourseves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt us.

Humility Before God, Part 1

On By BrianIn Virtue of Humility1 Comment

Humility before God begins with a right recognition of who God is and who I am, and this right recognition is grounded in Creation and the Fall.

In creation, we are reminded that God is the Creator and we are his creation.  God exists by himself, but we exist only because God made us.  God is not dependent on anything, but we are entirely dependent upon God.  So a right recognition of who God is and who I am is a recognition that God is the Creator and I am his creation.  He is God and I am not.

In the Fall, we are reminded that there is a great moral divide between us.  God is holy, without blemish or spot.  He is absolutely perfect and without sin.  And I am not.  I am a sinner.  I fail to love God as I should.  I fail to love people as I should.  I think thoughts I ought not think.  I say words I ought not say.  I do things I ought not do.  Even my best deeds are tainted with sin.  With Paul we say that all our righteousness is rubbish.  We cannot begin to meet God’s holiness.  So a right recognition of who God is and who I am is a recognition that God is holy and I am not.

A right recognition then means that God is greater than I am in both the realms of reality and morality.  The starting point of humility before God is keeping this recognition in mind throughout each day.  God is greater than I am.  God is my Creator and I am his creation.  God is holy and I am not.  The more I recognize and believe these truths, the more I should respond rightly to them; that is, the more I should walk in humility.

Humility is found in a right recognition which leads to a right response.  We will explore that right response in the next post.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here is some good reading for your weekend:

Consider the Glory of God – John Piper (via Desiring God)
A  great summary of the glory of God found in his many attributes.

7 Ways to Kill the Thanksgiving Impulse in Your Life – Jared Wilson
By learning what to overcome, we can grow in gratitude.

And for anyone who is struggling right now, here are two posts to encourage you to press on:
Don’t Give Up – Jon Bloom
Oh, That We Would Cling To Christ! – Becky at …Because He Said So

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day reveling in God’s glory, giving thanks to our Father, and clinging to our Savior!

Book Look: Unwavering Resolve

On By BrianIn Book Look

A few years ago I read Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions – 70 resolutions he made that he wanted to live by.  Many I found to be helpful.  But I also noticed that he seemed to repeat himself, or perhaps better put – there was no organization.  He simply recorded them as he thought of them.  I like organization!  Enter Steven J. Lawson’s book, The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards.  Lawson organizes the resolutions into several categories.  For each category, he considers the related resolutions, as well as looking at Edwards’ other writings to flesh them out further.  The result is a challenging book calling us to:

  • The Priority of God’s Glory
  • The Putting Away of Sin
  • The Precipice of Eternity
  • The Passion of Discipline
  • The Practice of Love
  • The Posture of Self-Examination

All of these categories are set in the context of the first two chapters looking at Edwards’ life and the prerequisite of faith.  If you are looking for a helpful book to examine your life and challenge you to live for the Lord, this is a great choice.

Passion News

On By BrianIn Current Collection

Today I am beginning a new semi-regular feature called “Passion News.”  The point is to address important items of news for people seeking to live with a passion for God and compassion for people in response to Christ’s passion for us.

For this first post, we need to consider the Obama administration’s plan to require even religious organizations to include birth control in their health insurance policies.  This is a big problem for Catholic organizations, as the Catholic Church rejects the use of birth control.  But it should also concern anyone who is pro-life, because the birth control that must be included in these policies includes methods that cause abortions.  And it should concern anyone who believes in freedom of religion over anyone’s pet policy whether it be from the left or right.

To learn more, a good place to start is this article from Christianity Today.  You might also check out this FAQ at the Gospel Coalition.  Influential evangelical leaders like Rick Warren and Charles Colson are calling evangelicals to stand with the Catholic Church and have raised the possibility of civil disobedience.  The Catholic Church has pledged not to give in.  Considering that 1 in 6 people in this country use Catholic hospitals, I’m betting that the government will have to give in if the Catholic Church stays firm on this issue.  The Obama administration can hardly fine that many hospitals out of existence – talk about a medical and political nightmare! 

In response to the backlash, President Obama offered what he called a compromise, which does nothing to end the issue or solve the freedom of religion infringement. 

Meanwhile J. E. Dyer at Patheos points out that the more things we want (or allow) the government to control, the less room there is for relious freedom. 

And in the most recent news, a House committee held a hearing to review the administration’s policy, inviting several clery from various religions.  Read this article to see the incredible disdain some of our government officials have for clergy and the freedom of religion.  Compassion for people requires us to act better than these folks.

Spiritual Slacker

On By BrianIn Uncategorized

Heard this devotional this morning on the radio from Our Daily Bread.  Well worth considering:

While studying the book of Proverbs in my small-group Bible study, our leader suggested that we change the description of a lazy person from a sluggard to a slacker (6:6,9). Ah, now he was speaking my lingo. I immediately started thinking of all the people I consider to be slackers.

Like the men and women who fail to teach and discipline their children. Or that guy who refuses to help around the house. Or those teenagers who neglect their studies and play Internet games day and night.

If we’re honest, we’re all susceptible to this. What about being a “prayer slacker” (1 Thess. 5:17-18), or a “Bible-reading slacker” (Ps. 119:103; 2 Tim. 3:16-17), or a “non-exercising-of-our-spiritual-gift slacker” (Rom. 12:4-8), or a “non-witnessing slacker”? (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8).

If we are not doing what we know God wants us to do, we are certainly spiritual slackers.

For the rest, see here.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points1 Comment

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Looking Firmly at the Cross of Christ – J. C. Ryle (via Erik Kowalker)
Great quote on our need to constantly come back to the cross.

20 Ways Satan May Seek To Destroy You This Week – Paul Tautges
We dismiss the devil too easily.  He wants to destroy us.  This post is a great look at his strategies that we might beterr be on our guard.

Self-Love and Loving Others – Barnabas Piper (via World Magazine)
Loving others does not start by loving yourself more.

This One Thing I Must Do – Thom Rainer
We must love one another.

Show Hospitality and Share the Gospel – Tim Chester
I’ve been reading Chester’s book, A Meal with Jesus.  This post is an excerpt from the book that really caught my attention about a Jesus-practiced evangelism strategy.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day focused on the cross and loving your brothers and sisters in Christ!

Wondrous

On By BrianIn Books of the Bible

  You have multiplied, O LORD my God,
  your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
  none can compare with you!
 I will proclaim and tell of them,
  yet they are more than can be told.
– Psalm 40:5

Father, help us to grasp your wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us.
Help us grasp how great you are – that nothing on this earth compares with you.
Help us to grasp so that we cannot help but proclaim to all who will listen.
Overwhelm our hearts to the point that it overflows out of our mouths.
For your glory.  Amen.