October 9
Scripture focus: It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble." So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet. Don't bad-mouth each other, friends. It's God's Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You're supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others? James 4:6-12, The Message
In Rick Renner’s book Sparkling Gems from the Greek, he describes the resistance of God as an attitude of one who is so fiercely opposed to something that he determines that he will do everything within his power to resist it, to stand against it, and to defy its operation.
Who does James say God stands against? …the willful proud.
Who are they?
- Pride causes us to say we’re right when we’re not.
- Pride causes us to say we’re good when we’re not.
- Pride causes us to say that “it’s” not our fault, when “it” may be either our fault or our responsibility.
- Pride causes us to do wrong and pretend that our choice does not break the heart of God.
- Pride causes us to accuse and blame others in a way that harms.
- Pride causes us to choose foolishness over faith.
- Pride causes us to feel terminally unique.
- Pride causes us to feel superior to others.
- Pride causes us to act in anger and not notice that in the kingdom of God, that’s murder.
- Pride causes us to care more about ourselves than others.
- Pride causes us to miss the point.
- Pride causes us to spend more than we make and assume it’ll work out somehow.
- Pride causes us to eat more and exercise less than our bodies deserve and presume that our bodies – the temple that houses God’s Spirit – will cope.
- Pride causes us to love things and use people.
- Pride causes us to stand on principle and stomp on people.
- Pride causes us to have an inflated view of self while deflating those around us.
I pray that each of us have more conscious awareness of our pride as we renew our conscious contact with a God who will oppose us if he must in order to draw us into a grander, more epic adventure than our pride could ever conceive.
Recommended reading: Psalm 89 - 91
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2 comments:
I think for me, in retrospect of course as I try to understand this new way of living, God loved me enough to not rescue me from the consequences of my choices. Instead, He allowed the consequences of my choice to handle my messy life myself (performance based) to continue over the years until the situation was so bad that it forced me to turn to God (without trying to help Him).
At that point He was able to teach me that my identity was that I was created in His image and who HE created me to be. My identity was not dependent upon performance as I had thought and lived. This lesson of identify was the most difficult thing I have ever experienced. More difficult than all of the mess my life was in.
This was also where Matt 5:3 makes sense to me since I was certainly blessed because He met me where I was-in the pit!
I am so glad He opposed my willfulness.
All I can is "ouch!" That's the type of list I need to print out and plaster to my wall so it can be in sight constantly. I pray God opposes me at every turn if/when I am in pride.
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