Thought for the day
A man dressed as Napoleon went to see a psychiatrist at the urging of his wife. "What's your problem?" the doctor asked."I have no problem," the man replied. "I'm one of the most famous people in the world. I have a great army behind me. I have all the money I'll ever need, and I live in great luxury."
"Then why are you here?"
"It's because of my wife," the man said. "She thinks she's Mrs. Smith.
"Pride tends to do two things with us. It causes us to see ourselves as more important than what we really are. That's why Paul wrote, "...Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought..." (Rom. 12:3, NIV).
But pride also causes us to see other people as less important than what they are. Someone has described us as having a "crab mentality." The term refers to a pot of crabs in which one tries to escape over the side, but is relentlessly pulled down by the others in the pot. As humans, we often act the same way. If we can't be somebody great, we can at least pull down others around us so that we look better by comparison!
In the Corinthian church, there was a lot of competition involving spiritual gifts. Those who had the more prominent or public gifts, such as the ability to preach or the ability to speak in different languages, regarded themselves as superior to those who held what they viewed as "less significant" gifts. Paul says, though:
"On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor....But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other." (I Cor. 12:22-25, NIV).
May God help us not only to ourselves as He sees us, but to see others around us as He sees them as well.
Verses
Hebrews 10:35-36
You must not throw away your confidence, for it will bring you a rich reward. What you need is the power to see things through. If you have that, you will obey the will of God, and so receive what he has promised.
Luke 10:9
"And heal the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
Romans 12:2
Do not model yourselves on the behavior of the world around you, but let your behavior change, modeled by your new mind.
This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do.
Job 42:10
And the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Isaiah 61:6
but you shall be called priests of the LORD, you shall be named ministers of our God; you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations, and in their riches you shall glory.
Prayer
Father, we pray for our fathers, grandfathers, husbands and sons that they will pursue godliness above any earthly pursuit. We pray that they will resist the temptation to fall into the devil’s trap where foolishness and harmful desires will plunge them to ruin resulting in disappointment, loss and heartache. Help them to flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Help them to lead their families in the good fight of faith as they take hold of eternal life. Make them strong in their faith so that they throw away anything that hinders their spiritual walk. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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