Pride is when we decide that we are doing things the “right” way. It starts as a small thing like having pride about an accomplishment and believing that you did it all on your own. As you begin to allow this to grip you it roots itself deep in your soul and spreads throughout like a virus. When we are gripped by pride we feel like we have arrived. We are always the ones who are right. It becomes hard for us to communicate the gospel because when someone offers a different idea our pride lashes out and fights against showing God’s love. Even on the cross Christ was always about others not about himself. The root issue of pride is that we have an inward view and not an outward one.

In our state of pride we fall into the spirit of  judgment. We begin feeling as if we should be able to tell everyone else how to live according to our lives. Last we checked God is the only one who has the ability to judge people so why should we inflate ourselves to play God? In the movie Bruce Almighty the main character Bruce (played by Jim Carey) gets the chance to be God. He is given the ability to do everything that God can do and for a while it is fun. He feels like he is good enough (out of pride) to be God, but at the end there is a scene with God and Bruce that captures why we should not try to take God’s place in judging others. Bruce tells God that he doesn’t want the responsibility of Him, and God replies saying something along the lines of we all want God’s powers without the responsibility of them.

When we become judgmental and prideful we begin to assume the role of God. As Bruce figured out, playing God is not something that any of us could even begin to do correctly. We lose the grace that God has given us to pour out on others because we are so wrapped up in ourselves and can’t see past our own desires. Our mission is to love others, and we can’t do that with a judgmental spirit. God would have us to love others unconditionally and even when they don’t deserve it. He first forgave and offered grace to us. Let us not be like the man in the parable whose debt was forgiven and then demanded another debt be paid. Let us spread the message of love to all who are around us even if we don’t want to give it to them. Of course we will stumble. That’s where God grants us grace and mercy. Let us pass on what we have been given.

The easiest way to not fall into a spirit outside of God is to constantly dive into the Word and God’s love. If we know God’s word we will begin to see that there are things we may do that are different for us than others. God gives us a set of universal lines to follow for those of us that call Christ our Lord. He offers the Ten Commandments as our guidelines for living. One thing that many Christ followers think is that if we shouldn’t do it then the non-Christians shouldn’t either. God’s rules apply to us, and we can’t expect those in darkness to act like the Light. Even within ourselves God has given us some things He feels will best benefit us. If it’s not written in black and white within the Bible God grants us free will to determine what we believe He would want of us.

There are millions of people living in the dark and we have been given the challenge  to reach those people. There is a God-sized agenda we are responsible for and it is much larger than our pride or judgmental spirit. Our Savior came into this world not to condemn but to save it. Over the next week we urge you to search in your heart where the virus of pride may be resting and begin to work through that area of your life. Let us give grace and mercy to those who we don’t think deserve it. Give forgiveness when we feel like we can’t. Be about this cause that is greater than anything we can ever do. Let’s go be who Christ called us to be. Be the Light in the darkness!

Dive Deep,

KC

Serving others is something that Jesus illustrated quite well to His disciples and set up a model for us to follow. John 13:1 explains the big idea behind serving when it says:

“…Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love”

After saying this Jesus began to wash his disciple’s feet, a task that was usually done by a servant. As His last lesson to the disciples He showed them what it truly meant to serve. We are called to have a sense of selfless service which requires humility. Jesus wasn’t washing their feet because he was required to but because he wanted to. The Creator of the Universe humbled himself to be as low as a servant to present the best model for serving others.

Selfless service is something that is hard for most of us to do, because we still believe that the world revolves around us. Our days are about what we can do for ourselves, about what we can do to get ahead at work, about what other people can do for us in our life, and about the stuff that shows off what we are like to everyone else. Until we grasp the concept of humility we can never truly serve others in the spirit that Christ demonstrated. The first step to being humble comes out of surrender and bowing down to Christ before all other things.

We tend to be afraid to serve because if we do we may feel no one will exalt us for the work we did. We never did anything to get where we are, and we tend to become ungrateful because of our self-centeredness. It becomes scary when we ask God to show us some way to serve and what He asks may put us in the background. The only way we can truly serve in a way that is pleasing to God is to bow down to His will first and trust that He will take care of us.

There is a major difference between serving and doing acts of service. Many times the things we do have good intentions, but not the right heart intent. We begin to serve people and expect them to recognize we did something. Jesus is the only reason we are here and his opinion matters above all others. Self serving people end up living a life full of treasure on this earth but miss the point John 13 is talking about. Christ is more pleased with us when we serve with the right motives to please Him rather than to please others. We  must become content with our recognition in Christ.

Humility is a hard thing to practice because it goes against the grain of what the world tells us. We are not of this world but created for a specific purpose by God. We have to be in the world but not of the world. We should be the people going against the grain when the rest of the world says fight for yourselves.  We should be fighting for others. When the world tells us to learn things to get ahead of others in ways that cut others down then we should be uplifting others first. Humility and contentment come hand in hand, and if we can begin to practice those things we will be able to serve out of selflessness, not selfishness.

This week we want to encourage you to start to bow down to our Creator in things that you know are keeping you from living a full life of worship though service. Even if this is not your pathway as the body of Christ we should be living this out in our lives in reverence for our God. Try actually bowing on your knees when you are praying or worshiping. It may feel awkward at first but as you get used to it you will find it may help you connect better. Pray for a spirit of humility and contentment thoughout this week. These are qualities that Christ believes are required for us to have as Christians to be set apart but not self apart. Take the step in living a life of selflessness not selfishness.

Dive Deep,

KC

Over and over again the Bible tells us that God is with us. God says in Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

We know this in our heads to be true in the times of prosperity, but what happens to us when we go though the hard times?

Some facts about challenges that seem to be helpful are that everyone has challenges, and even though they might seem insignificant to someone else, each of them impact the person in the same way. This might mean that someone is short on money, which is not a big deal to their friend. On the other hand, their friend might be struggling with relationships. In both instances, the persons have challenges. Neither of these are bigger than the other, but they impact them differently.

Sometimes when we face a challenge that seems to big we begin to embrace fear and worry instead of the Creator who is bigger than all of our problems. We run to fear because we so badly want to control our situation, eventhough God says that we should be courageous. One thing that is forgotten is that God is not up in Heaven running around trying to figure out what to do to fix the problem. God will put us though challenges that require us to lean on Him rather than ourselves.

Challenges are also what you make them. This is illustrated by groups that have done studies on cancer patients. The patients that go into the situation with a positive attitude have a much higher survival rate than those who don’t. It can be hard to be positive, but it will change your life dramatically if you decide to have a positive outlook.

When we get hit from all sides at the same time with problems and challenges, we have a tendency to become overwhelmed. The solution to this is to deal with one problem at a time. If your current problems are relationships and not having a job, see where they fall on your priorities list. If your wondering about your priorities, Proverbs says that it should be family, friends, then work. God shouldn’t be just a priority in your life, but the center of your life.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to others to help you along the way. Life is hard when we don’t have friends around to lift us up, so seek out other Christians to walk along with you. God absolutely helps you out, and often the way he helps is though community with other believers. We as Christians should be helping each other carry our burdens, as long as they are burdens that others can carry (or need to help carry).

Life is tough, but our God in Heaven is tougher than anything we could ever face. We need to surrender our will to His will, and allow Him to have full control of everything in our lives. If we can do this, God will surely bless us more than we ever have been. He can only do amazing things in the areas that we give him total control.

Take a self inventory and see where  in your life you might not be giving up to God. He always knows what is best for us, and sometimes putting us though challenges helps us to see what areas we need to surrender to Him. We can’t be servants to the Creator if we are still trying to be our own master.

May God continue to bless each of you!

Dive Deep,

KC