"Keeping away from strife is an honor for a man, but any fool will quarrel." -Proverbs 20:3
Arguments. We all have them, it's part of being a member of fallen man. Since the beginning of time mankind has fought. Cain and Abel...brothers. They fought and Cain's anger became so great it finally ended in the death of Abel.
We all excuse our bickering or call it "friendly disagreement" by saying we're not really upset. But really? Is there any truth to that? Let's say I make a statement, of which I believe to be truth. You come back and contradict what I said with a fact of your own. What is going to be the most common reaction? Do I humbly step back and let you explain, see if I could be wrong? Or do I get bug eyed in disbelief that you would dare disagree or think I was wrong and start a big tirade saying how "I know I'm right, therefore you must be wrong."
"He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly." -Proverbs 14:29
Does this sound at all familiar? One word: Pride.
"Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?" -Proverbs 20:6
"Who can say, 'I have cleansed my own heart, I am pure from sin?' " -Proverbs 20:9
"Every man's way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts." -Proverbs 21:2
"He who loves transgression loves strife; he who raises his door seeks destruction." -Proverbs 17:19
The downfall of mankind is pride. It is what started the snowball of sin and is what keeps us from perfection; what keeps us from living together peacefully.
Did you know that Satan used to be an angel? Most Christians know this fact, but because it is not taught in depth it is not really understood fully. Satan was what we might have called God's right hand man, in a way. You also learn that he was very beautiful. One day he decided "Why does God get to be #1? I think I deserve it just as much as He does." Right then God struck him down. He was cast out of heaven, with all who followed his way, and turned into a serpent, punished by having to crawl on his belly. It all started with pride. He could have been the servant to the most amazing, powerful Being there is. But he made a choice; he chose pride over all of that.
You see, being prideful isn't just wrong; it's dangerous, harmful, and has grave consequences. Jesus is over all, the One true God. That is the way it was made to be, and when we start thinking more of ourselves than we should, God will strike us down every time. Some might say "He is the one who is prideful! He just wants His own way." Well, yes. He has to have His way, because He is holly, just, righteous and pure. We cannot even comprehend His infinite wisdom. He MADE you. He has the right to expect certain things from you, just as a loving parent should expect their child to obey their rules that are placed to keep them safe.
I often wonder how many things I could have made a more positive impact in had I just kept my mouth shut. The spoken word is often more regretful than the unspoken word. The tongue is one of the harshest, most fierce weapons we have. What we cannot do in actions we make up for by lashing out with our tongue.
"He who guards his mouth and his tongue, guards his soul from troubles." -Proverbs 21:23
We must ever so carefully guard our tongue. We need to ask ourselves BEFORE we speak, "Would Jesus say this?" or "would this be edifying to Christ?"
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise make knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools sprouts folly. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good." -Proverbs 15:1-3
"The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; the one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin." -Proverbs 13:3
If we have love for God and others, we will almost automatically have our pride pushed aside. When we think more of HIM and THEM, we will begin thinking of ourselves less. It is a much better thing to think about anyway, if you ask me. (I get pretty tired of thinking about myself, it's actually very depressing.)
It's not quite, but I think love is pretty close to the opposite of pride. Love can really be the positive side to any negative situation or attitude.
I don't know why, but ever since I was a little girl I've always thought what I would do if I were to learn I only had a short time left to live my life.
-Who would I go to for forgiveness?
-What would I step out and finally go do?
-Who would I make a special trip to go see?
-What would I try to finish that I had always put off?
-What would I change in myself, whether it be attitude, daily tasks, priorities or dreams?
Looking at each of those, I COULD make a change in every single one and it would come down to removing pride out of the middle of each of them. When you dig deep down to the roots of yourself you'll find all kinds of junk; lots of it hard to swallow. It all comes down to one thing: living for oneself.
"A heart knows it's own bitterness," -Proverbs 14:10
I can pretend all day that I don't see issues built up inside my heart, but even if I can trick my mind into putting a band-aid on them or cover them up, my heart still knows what's going on.
If we could just make the conscious effort to live for someone and something (example: God and the gospel) other than ourselves I truly believe we would see a drastic difference in our lives!
There's a book and a few songs with the title "Crazy Love." It might sound a tad strange at first, but this should be what we have! We should be crazy IN love with Christ if we wish to keep that relationship blooming with Him, and we should GIVE love like crazy to other people!
Most of the time we do to make US feel better, learn to make US look more intelligent, spend to help US look better, boast to show that WE are wise or talented. Let me tell you, if we put as much effort into others as we put into ourselves, how many people do you think we could help? How many lives would have a positive difference made in them?
It's time to make a focus swap.
"So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, SO ALSO SHOULD YOU. Beyond all these things PUT ON LOVE, which is the perfect BOND OF UNITY. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, DO ALL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."
Love, love, love= UNITY. I cannot stress the matter enough. God cannot tell us enough. We MUST turn to love to make anything in our lives work or have purpose. Though we do not deserve it, we must first learn to accept God's love for us. That is the first step. We cannot love in and of ourselves, because apart from Christ we are too broken to love perfectly. Next, we must learn to love others like we won't ever get another chance; like their life depends on it, because you never know when one kind word or even just a smile will save a broken life.
"For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not may mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God." -1 Corinthians 1:26-29
The more we build up ourselves, the more we become like those who will not be used by God. He doesn't use the strong, wise or fearless but, to show His power, He uses the weak, less intelligent or dumb, and fearful. He chooses those who are mocked, teased and broken because once He has empowered them, people will definitely notice a change. "I am weak but He is strong." We can have strength, wisdom and courage through Christ alone. No other way.
* Toss out pride.
* Love like you won't get another chance.
* Let the "joy of the Lord" be your strength!
* Put others BEFORE yourself to show you truly care
* Live at peace with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ...just remember, you'll be spending eternity with them.
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