The truth about your pride

If only some professing Christians were willing to see that their pride is destroying them, and hurting everyone around them in the process.  Saying “I don’t have an ounce of pride in me” when confronted by someone, only reveals the true nature of the level of one’s pride.  You can fool yourself but you can’t fool the Lord.

Proverbs 16:5

Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

 

I couldn’t care less – Ray Comfort – August 2010 (bolding mine)

 

As I looked at the sad picture of a well-known atheist who was dying of cancer, I couldn’t help but admire his humility. He didn’t mind his photo being taken when he didn’t look his best. But as I thought about it, it wasn’t this man’s image to ever look his best. He always did seem to have the physical appearance of “I couldn’t care less about what anyone thinks of me.”

It reminded me of a friend who would spend a long time in front of the mirror each day, making sure he looked a mess. His humble “I don’t care what people think about me” image, was rooted in an inflated ego.

I suspected that the same was the case with this high-profile atheist. He warned that if rumor got out that he had converted to Christianity on his deathbed, no one should believe it. His words revealed that he was a very proud man.

There is a very bad side to pride. The proud man would rather destroy his marriage through divorce, than humble himself and seek reconciliation. That is the sort of proud person that God resists. The Bible even says that everyone who is proud of heart is an “abomination” to him (see Proverbs 16:5).

This poor dying atheist had such an inflated ego that he considered himself to be a valuable trophy for theists. In truth, he was just another guilty sinner among billions. If he would rather keep his pride and go to Hell than humble himself to go to Heaven, that’s his terrible choice. Such is the way of the proud.

 

Build a lasting legacy!

What kind of legacy are you building?  What kind of impact are you making in your life decisions?  Sadly, there are many professing Christians who do not even consider the impact of their own decisions.  They are so concerned with their own pride and selfishness that they cannot see the legacy they are leaving for future generations.

George Whitten wrote a wonderful devotional in 2008 that specifically shows the impact of lasting legacies of two families.  While you read through it, ask yourself what kind of legacy are you leaving?  If you find that there is even a HINT of possibility that your legacy may be similar to that of the first family, it may be that the Lord has led you to this post to shine the light on your sins, and He is calling you to repentance.  He may be giving you an opportunity to get it right this time.

God has given you an opportunity.  Are you going to leave a legacy that reflects the Lord or one that reflects self?

Build a Lasting Legacy!

August 19th, 2008 by George Whitten

Proverbs 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

In his book, A Spiritual Clinic, J. Oswald Sanders wrote about the lasting family legacies of two families from New York.

“Two families from the state of New York were studied very carefully.  One was the Max Jukes family and the other was the Jonathan Edwards family.  The thing that they discovered in this study is remarkable: like begets like.

Max Jukes was an unbelieving man and he married a woman of like character who lacked principle.  And among the known descendants, over 1,200 were studied.  Three hundred and ten became professional vagrants; 440 physically wrecked their lives by debauched lifestyle; 130 were sent to the pen for an average of thirteen years each, 7 of them for murder.  There were over 100 who became alcoholics; 60 became habitual thieves; 190 public prostitutes.  Of the 20 who learned a trade, 10 of them learned the trade in a state prison.  It cost the state about $1,500,000 and they made no contribution whatever to society.

In about the same era the family of Jonathan Edwards came on the scene. He was a man of God, who married a woman of like character. The study yielded the following concerning Jonathan Edward’s descendants:  Three hundred became clergymen, missionaries, and theological professors; over 100 became college professors; over 100 became attorneys; 30 of them judges; 60 of them became physicians; over 60 became authors of good classics; 14 became presidents of universities.  There were numerous giants in American industry that emerged from this family.  Three became United States congressmen and one became the vice president of the United States.”

Never forget the impact your life decisions will make…in yourself, your marriage, and on your children.  In ways you will never know in this life, you are building a legacy that will last for generations!

 

Do you love your wife?

 

Truth Stands The Test of Time

It is very difficult to be deceived by someone that you believed was a child of God. Maybe it was your husband, maybe your father, maybe even a close friend, either way coming to terms with the fact that they are not who you believed them to be is very painful.  Sometimes, it requires a cold hard look at the facts of how that person displays himself to the outside world to be able to understand that He is not serving God, but in fact serving Satan.

It is during those times that you need to make a choice as to who you will follow.  If you continue to follow the “lead” of the person deceiving you, you are dishonoring and disobeying God.

One of the biggest red flags that says that someone is not who they claim to be, is a person who is a professing Christian, and displays anger, violence, and fits of rage.  They are being controlled by their lower nature, and not following the Lord. 

Question: “What does the Bible say about violence?”

Answer: Violence is defined as “physical force exerted for the purpose of violating, damaging, or abusing,” and sadly, violence is a part of everyday life. It’s in our movies and television shows, and we live in a world where power is often established through violence. But for Christians, the way of the world is always trumped by the truth of the Word. So what does the Bible say about violence?

First of all, violence in the mind is just as hurtful as violence by the hands. Leviticus 19:17 says, “Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.” When we know someone is in sin, is it more loving to keep it quiet and build up hate and resentment towards them? God says that we should speak frankly, and Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:21-22 that murderous anger can lead the angry man to judgment from God as quickly as a physical blow. The violence he exhibits toward someone else can be brought back upon himself by God.

What about violence in war? Exodus 20:13 had been incorrectly translated as “do not kill,” but it literally means “do not murder.” God has allowed for just wars throughout the history of His people. From Abraham to Deborah to David, God’s people have fought as instruments of judgment from a righteous and holy God. Romans 13:1-4 tells us to submit ourselves to government authorities and that nations have the right to bear the sword against evildoers, both foreign and domestic.

Violence occurs, but we must recognize the difference between holy judgment on sin and our own personal vendettas against those we dislike, which is the inevitable outcome of pride (Psalm 73:6). While men are more prone to accept violence (especially as cultures depict real men as those who never cry, always have a plan, and carry a gun), the wisest man of all time wrote, “Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways” (Proverbs 3:31). Prayer and patience beats violence and anger on any day.

 

A man who raises his fist toward a woman, is not a man of God.  A man who verbally expresses his desire to physically harm a woman, is not a man of God.  A man who pushes his wife out of a door and slams the door in her face, is not a man of God.  A man who sits back and allows another man to raise his fist toward his wife, and scream and yell in the faces of his young children, and does nothing, is not a man of God.

I don’t care who you are, or what reason you can conjure up in your head as an excuse, your violence, anger, and pride will not be tolerated by the Lord. 

Galatians 5:19-21 (Bolding mine)

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

If you are following in the path of a man who has displayed violence in any way while claiming to be a Godly man, you are being deceived.  Godly men aren’t violent! If you continue to follow in the path of a violent man, you are no better off than the man who is actually doing the act of violence.

Galatians 6:7

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

To obey or not to obey

Your life with Christ needs to include not only faith in God, but obedience to Him.  There are many professing Christians in the world who are giving God “lip-service” but their lifestyles are showing anything but the love of Christ and their obedience to Him.

How obedient are you in your Christian life?

Are you allowing God to convict you of your sins or are you completely blinded by the truth of your condition?  How is your marriage?  Are you loving your spouse?  I don’t mean just saying the words “I love you”, I mean are you outwardly loving your spouse?  Are you loving your children?  Are you teaching them the ways of the Lord?  Are you instructing them on proper behavior, proper dress, and proper treatment of others?  Are you teaching them about God’s love by your example or are you teaching them how to express pride and hatred by thinking of self first?  Are you involved in their lives?  Do you know what they are studying in school, who their friends are, what they are reading, what their likes and dislikes are?  Are you loving your enemies?  Are you restoring broken relationships?  Can others see the love of God in you?  Do “outsiders” look at you and see the “light” of kindness, forgiveness and love or do they see the “darkness” of pride, selfishness, bitterness and hate?

If you are not sure about any of the answers to those questions, it is time to do something about it.

 

Doing Something About It by Vance Havner(bolding mine)

   “They hear thy words but they will not do them.” — EZEKIEL 33:31.

   ”But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” — JAMES 1:22.

   The prophet Ezekiel ministered in an evil time. It was his lot to prophesy to a generation that listened after a fashion, likened him unto one having a pleasant voice, told others about his preaching, but did nothing about his message. They heard his words but did them not.

   Ezekiel was not the only man of God whose sermons fell on unresponsive ears. Earlier, God had advised Isaiah well in advance that his message would blink eyes and shut ears and harden hearts lest the hearers convert and be healed. And those words show up later in each of the four Gospels and still later in Acts and Romans to explain the poor response of Israel to the ministry of our Lord and of Paul. Israel heard but did nothing.

   James warns against the same evil. Invariably we do not quote the entire verse. We say, “But be doers of the word and not hearers only,” and there we stop. But there is a most solemn further word, “deceiving yourselves.” That is the worst thing about it: hearing and not doing, we delude ourselves.

   Our Lord constantly warned against doing nothing about it. “Everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does not do them, shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.” “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.” “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don’t do the things I say?” In the Great Commission, we are told to go “teaching them TO OBSERVE” the things commanded.

   Chief among the besetting sins of the saints is hearing without doing. And it is a grievous sin, for “to him that knows the good he ought to do and fails to do it, it is sin.” In Ezekiel’s day they heard the preacher, complimented him, told others about him, but did nothing about the message. The centuries have passed, and today we listen to preachers, invite others to hear them, congratulate them with that very doubtful compliment, “I enjoyed your sermon.” But we do nothing about it.

   Let it never be forgotten that, although we may do nothing about the Word we hear, the Word will do something to us. The same sun melts ice and hardens clay, and the Word of God humbles or hardens the human heart. Truth heard and not acted upon is a dangerous thing. Spiritual impulses which are not translated into action have a disastrous reaction.

   It is well known that many movie-goers who are continually being excited and stirred in the world of make-believe become emotional drunkards. But there are also religious drunkards and Bible-conference drunkards and church drunkards, who go from meeting to meeting, constantly being stirred but doing nothing about it, until their souls become fed-up, their moral muscles deteriorate and they lose their capacity for being aroused. Presently they suffer from a moral let-down, a religious hangover. They delude themselves. They have heard the best preachers, they have read the best books, they have had their ears tickled and their emotions thrilled, but as with a stimulant the doses have to be increased and after awhile there is no effect, no matter what they read or hear. An alarm clock that fairly blasts us out of bed on the first morning may eventually fail to arouse us. Something like that happens to those who hear and take no action upon it.

   It is a serious thing to trifle with any emotion and not carry it through to its proper and legitimate conclusion. And it is most dangerous to play with the holy stirrings of God’s Spirit through His Word. I had rather take chances with forked lightning any time. For the Word of God is dynamite, it is a hammer, a fire, a sword; messengers of the Word are a savour of life unto life and of death unto death. The man who habitually hears the Word of God and does nothing about it is the greatest of fools, for he fools himself.

   Americans are a generation of spectators. They sit, thousands strong, in a football stadium and watch twenty-two men strive for the mastery down below. Then they go to the movies and thrill to the sham of Hollywood. On Sunday some of them go to church, and once again they are spectators before whom the minister is expected to perform. Many of them have no more intention of doing anything about the sermon than they intend to act out what they experienced at the movies. They are spectators, not participants.

   Modern Christians find it easy to hear the Word and do nothing about it. Preaching may be had on every hand, at church, at the turn of a radio dial. Sermons have become so commonplace that we take the truth for granted. But where much has been given, much shall be required. God forbid that we should go out of our churches merely comparing one minister with another; like the listeners of Ezekiel’s day, complimenting the messenger without conforming to the message, passing it up as just another sermon, “enjoying” it when God meant that our consciences would be pricked by it. The task of the preacher is “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” and we are comfortable enough. God help us if we let the fowls of the air snatch up the seed which should produce thirty-, sixty-, an hundredfold; if we behold ourselves in the mirror of the Word and straightway forget what manner of persons we are!

   The great and holy themes of Scripture are always joined with a call to do something about it. The first part of Ephesians shows us our exalted position in Christ, but right out of those heavenly glories we move from doctrine to duty, to the believer’s vocation, which too often is regarded as a vacation. There are those who enjoy a dissertation on “The Lord knows those who are his” but who resent an application of the rest of the verse, “And let every one who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” It is possible to revel in prophetic lectures, “seeing that all these things shall be dissolved,” without going on to do something about what manner of persons we ought to be. The coming of our Lord is a certainty, a coming certainty, a comforting certainty, and a challenging certainty, and if we hold properly this hope we shall do something about it, we shall purify ourselves even as He is pure. Alas, it is too often the case that the same brother who shouts “amen” — and well he may! — through the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians, the resurrection chapter, shuts his mouth as tightly as his pocketbook on the sixteenth chapter, the collection chapter!

   From start to finish, the Word of God joins creed with deed, and if “cursed be he that handles the word of God deceitfully,” let us remember that one way we can do that is by hearing it and not doing it. “Sin will keep us from the Book and the Book will keep us from sin,” and it is not the Word hidden in the head but in the heart that keeps us from sin. You can have a head full of Scripture and heart full of sin! You can backslide with a Bible under your arm!

   It is possible to mistake a familiarity with Bible terms for a knowledge of Bible truth. We are not suffering from a lack of sermons. Maybe we have too many sermons. There is enough of the Word of God stored in the heads of Christians, if it were obeyed, to set America on fire and set off enough Divine power to put atomic bombs to shame in comparison.

   But something has to be done about the Word. It is true, gloriously true, that God’s Word will not return unto Him void. Ezekiel was assured that although the people would not heed his message, they would know that a prophet had been among them. Many a preacher, in an unresponsive day, has encouraged himself with that blessed truth. But that God’s Word will not return void is no lollipop to roll under our tongues while we evade personal responsibility. The preacher has a responsibility to preach the Word, but his hearers have a responsibility to heed it. There is another verse about the Word not profiting Israel long ago, “not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” There must be a volitional response, “faith taking hold of the word.”

   We may have faith, but is it OBEDIENT faith? “By faith Abraham OBEYED.” Are you obedient to the truth you know? Let me confine myself to the book of James and ask you a few pointed questions from that brief letter whence came our text about being doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. And don’t put these verses in a dispensational cubbyhole, they are for us all!

   ”Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” This is to Christians. Have you done anything about that lately?

   ”When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” Have your prayers been unanswered because of sin?

   “Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” Have you done anything about your tongue and temper lately?

   ”Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” Have you been proud? We want to have a revival and still save our faces, but the first thing we lose in a revival is our face!

   ”Speak not evil one of another, brethren . . . Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed.” Are you critical? Is there someone to whom you owe an apology?

   These are only a few verses, chosen almost at random. Think what would happen if the Church did something about one little book, the book of James!

   God help us to do something about it, lest we hear God’s words and do them not, deceiving ourselves. “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17).

 

 

There are people that God places in your life for a reason.  If someone has come up to you and said “I love you, and I want to help you” and started to talk about things that they see wrong in your life, don’t ignore them.  Hear what they have to say, and then ask God to show you if it’s true.  Trust me…..He’ll show you.  And you might not like what you see. 

Don’t depend on the words of your parents or your siblings.  They are not the best judges when it comes to telling you the truth about who you have become.  Your spouse will tell you if something is wrong. (if you marriage is falling apart, there is something wrong).  Your children will tell you if something is wrong.  Most importantly, the word of God will tell you that something is wrong.  It’s time to do something about it!

Refusing God’s Unspeakable Gift

 I was searching through a few of my favorite blogs and I came across this article by Ray Comfort.  I chose to post it here because it spoke so clearly about the burden on my heart (see yesterday’s post).

The Time Bomb by Ray Comfort (2009)

I saw Disney’s “Up” recently. I went because a close friend said that it was so good and so funny, he saw it twice (he rarely goes to the movies). The skillful animators were able to show the joy of true love in marriage. In a matter of minutes, a cute kid and his girlfriend grew to adulthood, got married, and loved each other with a deep passion as they grew old together. Then she died.

Suddenly, every joy filled memory became unbearably painful for the elderly man, and they captured that deep pain in caricature. I cried my eyes out. I wanted to call my friend and say, “I thought you said this was a comedy!” Up took me down. I cried that night at home also, because I was graphically reminded me of something I carry daily. Every loving husband and wife will be torn apart by death. It’s just a matter of time. Each of us is strapped to a ticking time bomb. But that’s not the tragedy that drove me to my knees. It’s that God offers eternal life to every dying person, and most refuse His “unspeakable gift.” That’s the real human tragedy.

I know that many of you think that I’m ignorant, because I make a mess of what you believe about evolution. But it’s not deliberate. I’m not slightly persuaded, but I’m slowly learning. I know many of you also think I’m a calculated liar and that I’m just out to make a fast buck. Believe that if you wish, but don’t use it as an excuse to reject God’s offer of eternal salvation. Please think about your sins, then think about the Savior and what He did for guilty sinners such as us. God knows that my motive is that I want to do is see you in Heaven. Up is where I want you to go. Don’t ask God for “proof.” You don’t need it. You already have the necessary proof through your conscience and because of creation. Ask instead for salvation, while you still have time. Every beat of your heart is another tick…

As Ray says in the last paragraph, “Please think about your sins, then think about the Savior and what He did for guilty sinners such as us……..Don’t ask God for “proof”.  You don’t need it.  You already have the necessary proof through your conscience and because of creation.”

The “truth” is found only in God’s Word.  It is not found by listening to false teachers twist the Scriptures, throw a little of the “world’s” analogies in to make the point more clear, and then tell you what THEY think God is telling you to do in your life.  The false teachers are making you twice the sons of hell as they are (Matthew 23:15)

The clock is “ticking”.  Only the Lord knows how much longer you will be living on this earth.  Why waste another second in your sinful, selfish, disobedient life?  Stop asking for “proof”, repent of your sins, and start living in obedience.

Burdened

The Lord has placed such a burden on my heart for everyone who is suffering the pain of a broken marriage.  The burden I have isn’t just about the pain that separation and divorce causes, but more of a burden for the blindness of the sins being committed during the process of separation and divorce.

 At some point, you loved your spouse.  You wouldn’t have married them if you didn’t.  True love, the love that is talked about in Scripture, “believeth all things”.

 A.B. Simpson wrote a devotional called “Love believeth all things”.  As you read through it, take the time to reflect on how much God loves us and how He expresses that love toward us even when we don’t deserve it.

 Love believeth all things By A.B. Simpson

      There is a beautiful expression in the book of Isaiah which reflects with accuracy the depth of the love of God. He said, They are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour (Isaiah 63:8). They lied, but He would not believe it. At least He speaks as if He would not believe it, in the greatness of His love, because they were His people. He has not seen iniquity in Jacob nor perversity in Israel. There is plenty of it to see, and the devil sees it all, and a good many people are only too glad to see it, but the dear Father will not see it. He covers it with His love and the precious blood of His atoning Son. Such a wonderful love ought surely to make us more gentle to others and more anxious to cause our Father less need to hide His loving eyes from our imperfections and faults. if we have the mind and heart of Christ, we shall clothe even the non-Christians with those graces which faith can claim for them. We shall try our best to count them as if they were real, and by love and prayer we shall at length make them real. Love believeth all things (1 Corinthians 13:7).

It is because of God’s wonderful love for us that should make us more gentle to others.  It says “If we have the mind and heart of Christ, we shall clothe even the non-Christians with those graces with which faith can claim for them.”

Why is it then, when it comes to marriage, we continually refuse the Lord?  Why do we insist that we are right to separate or divorce when Scripture clearly states we are not?  Why do we continue to make excuses for our sins when we refuse to drop our own pride and selfishness?  Why do we refuse to humble ourselves before God and our spouses and ask for forgiveness; for a second chance; for an opportunity to heal?  Why do we refuse to see that it is God’s will that your marriage works so that your marriage honors Him; is reflective of His relationship with His bride, and so that from your union you raise up the next generation of Godly men and women?

Because I love you, I have to be honest with you.  If you are not even attempting to reconcile your marriage, you do not know the Lord.  If you are not willing to humble yourself and apologize to your spouse for the way that you treated them (regardless of their response) you do not know the Lord.  If you are not willing to overlook the things that your spouse did or say, and offer unconditional forgiveness, you do not know the Lord.  If you are refusing to talk to your spouse and/or your children even though they have apologized to you and told you how much they love you, you do not know the Lord.  If you are putting your children or your parents over your spouse, you do not know the Lord, and you are out of His will.

Let no one deceive you.  Your relationship with your spouse is a direct reflection of your relationship with the Lord.  When you go to God and repent of your sins, does God say “Prove it!” or “I need some time to figure out what I want”?  No, he doesn’t.  He forgives you.  He believeth all things.

If you have ever told your spouse “I don’t want anything to do with you” either by words or by actions, you need to know that you have said those words to God first.  If you have ever told your spouse “I don’t need you”, again, you have said them to God first.  If you no longer wear a wedding band and you are still married to your spouse, you have forsaken God first.  If you are married and your status on Facebook (or anywhere else) says “Single”, you are in sin.  You are only lying to yourself.  God sees it all.  And through your lies, your words and actions, you are breaking the heart of one of God’s children.  Do you honestly expect the Lord to bless you and/or answer your prayers when your sins are causing pain and heartache to one of His children?

I pray that everyone who reads this post will take an honest look at themselves and their relationship with their spouse.  If you cannot answer the question “Am I treating my spouse the way I would treat the Lord if He were standing next to me?” with a resounding YES!, it’s time to ask the Lord to heal your own heart.  Whether you want to admit it or not, you are living a lie.  Thank the Lord that He is patiently waiting for you to surrender yourself and your free will, and come to him in repentance.

Don’t worry about all of the “what if’s”.  Stop making all of the excuses of what your spouse did to deserve poor treatment.   Stop placing all of the blame for the problems in your marriage on your spouse.  Don’t worry about your spouse’s sins….God will take care of them. Be obedient to God.  Love your spouse.  Get right with God first and He will help you as you make the steps to get right with your spouse. 

Satan is in the business of keeping families torn apart.  God is in the restoration business.  But He cannot restore your marriage and your family until you realize your own sins and repent of them.