Sorry it's been so long since I have posted. Here's my thoughts from tonight.
Pride - probably one of the greatest struggles in my life. It can be positive. I mean how can you not be proud of something great you do, and take pride in it? But then there is also the negative, the attitude of pride, or of being prideful. Pride puffs us up, and makes us think we are more than we really are. Pride keeps us from obeying God fully. Pride keeps us from doing our devotions, because we think we will do it later. Pride keeps us from coming to God, because we think we can do it on our own. I am so sick of pride.
This is stupid, but I am going to share it, even though i will look like an idiot. So, we were having a dorm event and just playing some video games tonight. I wanted to play Super Smash Bros. for N64 for the first time in years. You need to understand, back when that game first came out, nobody in my circle of friends could beat me. EVER. But tonight was a different story. For one thing, I had not played in years, so I was out of practice; but I will not make excuses - my opponent was good. Needless to say, I lost. And I was genuinely upset. And I should not be. It is a game. A children's game. This is not the only competitive thing I get upset at thought. Sports, board games, card games...you name it. If I can compete and possibly have a sense of pride, I do. This is not good!!!!
So what does it take to combat this? Humility - straight up. God says that He opposes the proud (James 4:6). That means that when I am proud, I am opposed by the one I am supposed to be glorifying because I am opposing Him instead. Not acceptable. However, God also gives us instruction as to how to be humble. Philippians 2:3-4 says, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves. You must look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." This does not mean we become door mats and just do whatever someone needs done. It means that we are humble and consider others' needs more important. Obviously, if you are dying and someone asks you to help move a bed or something, your need is more pressing. But for everyday stuff, like buying a meal if you have funds, or considering someone else's emotions before your own, or carrying stuff from someone's car, or holding that door open for just a few seconds more - you can love people, put away your own pride, and consider others more significant.
There are so many reasons, if you live a Christian life, to be humble, but I am just going to touch on one, namely that you have no power, and God is working through you. Ok so the fact is, that you have no power. If you are a Christian, you believe that God created and sustains you. This means these finger muscles I am using to type this, is God given. The eye muscles and brain function you are using to read this, yup, God given. Paul says in Colossians 1:29, "For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he so powerfully works within me." Paul was a humble guy - he had to be! He knew that Christ was working within him and that he had absolutely no power. I mean sure, he did incredible things for God, but he knew that it was Christ, and not him. This means we have NOTHING to boast in. Not one thing. We have no power, nothing to boast in! So why is it so hard not to be proud if I can see that it all belongs to God????
I was reading Galatians today, and just one verse hit me hard. Galatians 6:3 says, "For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." This means everybody, because it has already been proven that we all think we are something when really we are nothing. This should be so easy. But it's not, at all. It is honestly the hardest thing in my life to deal with. All I can really do is ask God to humble me, and plead with whoever it is that reads this to pray for me. Honestly, I have no answers to anything, I am just trying to glorify God.
