Author : Vivian Gordon
As a general rule, all people have some form of pride.
Everyone wants to be more important than what they really
are. This may work for a time for some people who demand
attention and respect, but in the long run it will end up
smacking them in the face. God says He will confound the
wise and He also tells us not to be wise in our own eyes.
This pride comes from not acknowledging God or His Word.
But we have been forewarned. God in all His infinite wisdom
knows that we all have evil and wicked devices in our
hearts. That is why He will eventually bring this human pride
to it's knees. In God's Word He says He will bring low the
ones who exalt themselves and will exalt those who are
humble. If you have ever thought you were all that and a bag
of chips, odds are God has already dealt with you about that.
After that, He will give you the choice of obedience or
disobedience. Once God gets your attention and makes you
see all your human weaknesses, you will soon realize the
One Who is far greater than yourself. This act of
humbling is what makes us see that we are all disposable.This is the journey of all true Christians who have been
dragged into the wood shed by God Himself to deal with
them on their human condition. It's here that we can get on
our knees and cry out for God's help, or we can be stubborn
and keep getting our butts kicked. After all, it was this kind of
pride that kept the Israelites from reaching their destiny in
what would've been an 11 day journey and turned it into a
40
year wilderness journey. They just never wanted to remain
humble to the Lord. Their pride kept messing them up and
going around and around in the desert without ever
reaching the Promised Land. Was this God's fault? No, He
gave them explicit instructions but they just didn't heed His
call to remain humble. As a result, only 2 of the original
people ever made it, that was Joshua and Caleb. What are
your odds of making it to the "Promised Land"?"A false balance and unrighteous dealings are extremely
offensive and shamefully sinful to the Lord, but a just weight
is His delight. When swelling and pride come, then
emptiness and shame come also, but with the humble
(those who are lowly, who have been pruned or chiseled by
trial, and renounce self) are skillful and godly Wisdom and
soundness. The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but
the willful contrariness and crookedness of the treacherous
shall destroy them." Prov. 11:1-3 (Amplified)It doesn't get much plainer than this. Anyone who refuses to
humble themselves in the sight of the Lord will eventually be
destroyed by his own stubborn actions and prideful self.
God regards this as offensive and shamefully sinful. But the
man who humbles himself will gain godly Wisdom and
soundness. This is integrity of a righteous person and God
will guide this man or woman all the days of their life. Their
journey will not be in vain. Ask yourself this, do you have any
idea where you're headed in this life's journey? Is God
leading you or do you feel you're on your own?Jesus used parables to explain these lessons for us today.
A parable means an earthly story with a heavenly message.
All stories have a moral behind them. Morals are meant to
speak to our morales of life. We all have morales, but every
once in awhile, we need to check them and see if they are
lined up with God's will for us.In Luke 15, Jesus spoke about the parable of the
disobedient young son. We know it better as the Prodigal
Son. This gives the perfect example of how we all start out
our journey. Being a young man, he thought he deserved
what he had coming to him and was going to go out in the
world and "do his own thing". No one was going to tell him
any differently. I know I've been there a few times myself.
We all feel like we're entitled to the good things in life
without working for them because we deserve them.Notice in Luke 15:11, the young son goes to his father and
says, "Give me". Those two words are spoken so often even
today among children who haven't yet been chastised by the
Lord. I use to kid that Mr. Roger's was to blame for our
children's behaviors. He always told them "you are
special". Children are and should be special but not to the
point of being disobedient. No one is that special! We have
given in and spoiled our children with love and not enough
discipline that they get to a certain age can't be told what to
do. Instead they expect things just to be given to them.
We are not doing them any favors by trying to be their
friends. We need to be responsible adults in teaching them
that the world is not fair and they will have to do something
in return. But, like the saying goes, "learn the hard way." And
hard it is.So in this parable, this younger son demands that his father
give him his portion because he had merely inherited it. He
never worked for it. But, he was a man now and wanted to
see the world on his own. Like any young irresponsible
person, he didn't regard this money with careful thought. It
didn't mean that much to him. So, he acted like the big man
on campus and impressed people he didn't even know. He
loved the feeling it gave him. He was popular, everyone
regarded him as their friend, until all his money was gone.
As long as he didn't want for anything he was very prideful."And when he had spent all he had, a mighty famine came
upon that country, and he began to fall behind and be in
want." Luke 11:14 (Amplified)Maybe he never even considered that it takes money
constantly coming in in order to live. This takes hard work to
make the money. People are alot like this today. Life should
be all fun and games, not hard work. Trying to impress
people might get you further in this world without working for
it. In reality this is not the case and this lesson is often
learned too late. This younger son found that out for himself.
He was down to nothing and left wanting for everything."So he went and forced (glued) himself upon one of the
citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed
hogs." Luke 11:15 (Amplified)When you are down to bare bones you have to start begging
and humbling yourself. People just aren't going to welcome
you in with open arms. He was given a job, but a
menial job and he had no choice but to take it. Now all of a
sudden he wasn't so important. He soon found out that this
wasn't going to cut it. He had to do something extreme. His
back was against the wall. Do you know the feeling of being
this deperate? I certainly do."Then when he came to himself, he said, How many hired
servants of my father have enough food, and (even food) to
spare, but I am perishing (dying) here of hunger?" Luke
15:17 (Amplified)He came to his senses and realized that he was not "all that
and a bag of chips". He also realized that he had sinned
against God by his disobedience of thinking himself more
than what he really was. (Luke 15:18)It was at this point he came to see his frailty. This is
the same point that we come tosee ourselves for who we
really are. Face it, we just aren't worthy on our own. Time to
get over it! There is only one way to be worthy, His name is
Jesus."I am no longer worthy to be called your son; (just) make me
like one of your hired servants." Luke 15:19 (Amplified)This is where God gets our attention and we fall on our
knees and say, "Lord, just make me...". We humble
ourselves and ask God to make us in the image of Christ.
We long to be His servant and obey Him. Christ said in John
15:5 that He was the vine and we are the branches and with
out Him, we can do nothing! That's pretty simple. Does this
mean we are nothing in God's sight? No, we are precious in
His sight when we learn to humble ourselves. Remember
He regards pride as sinful. God can't look upon sin and
pride is the number one reason we are destroyed.This parable has a happy ending just as it does with our
Heavenly Father. When the son admitted his sins, his father
was quick to forgive him and welcomed him into his home.
He saw it as a reason to celebrate and he prepared a
banquet for him.God tells us the same thing today. When we get our knees
and humble ourselves and confess our sins to Him He will
then open up His arms and welcome us home. God is
quick to forgive our sins when we confess them. He says
He is going to celebrate our arrival with a big wedding feast.
He also said He will reward us with crowns of Life and Glory
if we just humble ourselves and make ourselves servants to
Him. He promises that He will give us an inheritance in His
kingdom one day. For those who remain in the world and
prideful, He says He will make them His footstool.
Remember that God promises to exalt those who are
humble. It's not being made lowly as being impoverished.
It's being made lowly to be lifted up and highly favored by
God.Where do you want to end up in the end of your journey?
Being a humble servant to Jesus Christ will reserve your
place at the banquet table with Him and such a party we
have never seen the likes of here on this earth.I don't know about you but I'm doing everything I can to
secure my name in that Book of Life so I will be invited to
that gala. My human pride is nothing compared to being
humble and considered upright and righteous in the sight of
the Lord God Almighty.If you have teenagers at home or know of any who are
saying, "give me" right now, please tell them this parable
and make them see how important it is that they go to God
and ask Him to "make me" instead.On this road through life, it's important to remember that
when we humble ourselves, we will find God's blessings as
we obey Him.Vivian Gordon writes inspirational and spiritual articles
in which to help strengthen the Believer's walk in Christ.
They are often taken from today's point of view and
used in conjunction with what God says about certain
situations and how we are to handle them. There is
always an answer for every problem. These articles are
not all about asking God "why?" but in finding the
answers.
Keyword : Christian, Inspirational, Pride, Humility, Lesson, Morals, Parables, Prodigal, Disobedience, Obey
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