August 20th 2017
Can Your Pride Allow Jesus To Drive Your Life?
Colossians 3:12-14 (NLT)
Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about faith, and last week I wrote about hope, so it only makes sense that this week the main topic is love! Having faith, promotes hope, as you believe your future is real and secure, and out of that security, comes the ability to love other people. You cannot truly love your neighbor as yourself, until you believe there is a God who loves you unconditionally! In our human status we are never capable of unconditional love! Until we have our new glorified bodies or souls, we do not have the complete love connection, even with God! God’s love for us is a perfect love; therefore, we cannot totally grasp it!
In the old English versions of the Bible the word charity was sometimes used, but in the newer version it has been replaced with the word love. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. (Colossians 3:14 (AV)) Charity is a word that expresses the kind of love that Paul was writing about, it is better than just love, as charity expresses doing something for someone with no expectation of getting something back. Proud people do not want to receive charity; instead they desire to pay back whatever they receive. Another way of stating this is, “I’d rather do it myself!” We start saying this when we first learn to speak.
This prideful attitude is born into every normal child, and it rears its ugly head when we are very young. It shows up in very early speech patterns. This is obvious evidence that we do possess a spirit of sin that was inherited from our sinful ancestors, yes even from Adam! This is why we need a Savior, because we can never, “Do it for ourselves!” That is, we cannot save ourselves!
In our society we are taught to have self-esteem, and to be independent. While these are good attitudes to have to live as individuals in a secular society, these are not good virtues to have for living a godly life! Nor do such ideas operate well when it comes to sharing in a lifestyle, such as in marriage! This is one of the reasons many marriages do not work, as the two people can never really become one in all aspects of this lifetime! This is also one of the reasons some people chose to live with someone of the same sex, because there are just fewer differences in their thought process!
God created men and women very different, because He knew that these differences are actually complementary of each other, and needed to raise human children! Each partner offers something the other does not possess. Again, this is why same sex couples do not offer all that is needed to raise children in the admonition of the Lord! Thus, single parents do not offer this same balance for their children either. Our society today is suffering from these imbalances in far too many homes, and we can see the decline in being able to make a connection with a loving God!
No, I’m not an expert in any of these areas, thus these statements above are opinions, but they are based on my understanding of God’s Word. In self-esteem, the individual is taking credit or glory for their effort, and thus they can take pride in the accomplishment. This is not what God’s Word says should happen! Peter gives us some clue about living among the worldly people, and how we should be an example for them, not the other way around. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12) As you can see the glory for any good deeds we do should go to our Heavenly Father not to us!
If you have identified Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you need to put Him in the center of your life, which in itself removes you from the driver’s seat. Can your pride allow Jesus to drive your life? Can you relinquish control enough to allow any glory that is due you, be given wholly to God instead? Then you can experience a peace that passes all understanding. Then you will be able to make a connection with God that will not be able to be broken by anything that currently exists. Paul writes about such a love connection with God in Romans. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
If we have any power in this life, it must be through a connection with Jesus. Do you possess “the love of Christ?” Let us close with Ephesians 3:16-19. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
Colossians 3:12-14 (NLT)
Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about faith, and last week I wrote about hope, so it only makes sense that this week the main topic is love! Having faith, promotes hope, as you believe your future is real and secure, and out of that security, comes the ability to love other people. You cannot truly love your neighbor as yourself, until you believe there is a God who loves you unconditionally! In our human status we are never capable of unconditional love! Until we have our new glorified bodies or souls, we do not have the complete love connection, even with God! God’s love for us is a perfect love; therefore, we cannot totally grasp it!
In the old English versions of the Bible the word charity was sometimes used, but in the newer version it has been replaced with the word love. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. (Colossians 3:14 (AV)) Charity is a word that expresses the kind of love that Paul was writing about, it is better than just love, as charity expresses doing something for someone with no expectation of getting something back. Proud people do not want to receive charity; instead they desire to pay back whatever they receive. Another way of stating this is, “I’d rather do it myself!” We start saying this when we first learn to speak.
This prideful attitude is born into every normal child, and it rears its ugly head when we are very young. It shows up in very early speech patterns. This is obvious evidence that we do possess a spirit of sin that was inherited from our sinful ancestors, yes even from Adam! This is why we need a Savior, because we can never, “Do it for ourselves!” That is, we cannot save ourselves!
In our society we are taught to have self-esteem, and to be independent. While these are good attitudes to have to live as individuals in a secular society, these are not good virtues to have for living a godly life! Nor do such ideas operate well when it comes to sharing in a lifestyle, such as in marriage! This is one of the reasons many marriages do not work, as the two people can never really become one in all aspects of this lifetime! This is also one of the reasons some people chose to live with someone of the same sex, because there are just fewer differences in their thought process!
God created men and women very different, because He knew that these differences are actually complementary of each other, and needed to raise human children! Each partner offers something the other does not possess. Again, this is why same sex couples do not offer all that is needed to raise children in the admonition of the Lord! Thus, single parents do not offer this same balance for their children either. Our society today is suffering from these imbalances in far too many homes, and we can see the decline in being able to make a connection with a loving God!
No, I’m not an expert in any of these areas, thus these statements above are opinions, but they are based on my understanding of God’s Word. In self-esteem, the individual is taking credit or glory for their effort, and thus they can take pride in the accomplishment. This is not what God’s Word says should happen! Peter gives us some clue about living among the worldly people, and how we should be an example for them, not the other way around. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12) As you can see the glory for any good deeds we do should go to our Heavenly Father not to us!
If you have identified Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you need to put Him in the center of your life, which in itself removes you from the driver’s seat. Can your pride allow Jesus to drive your life? Can you relinquish control enough to allow any glory that is due you, be given wholly to God instead? Then you can experience a peace that passes all understanding. Then you will be able to make a connection with God that will not be able to be broken by anything that currently exists. Paul writes about such a love connection with God in Romans. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
If we have any power in this life, it must be through a connection with Jesus. Do you possess “the love of Christ?” Let us close with Ephesians 3:16-19. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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