A Trip To Stuff-Mart

Prideful arrogance leads to conflict; those who heed advice are wise.

Proverbs 13:10

 

We are encouraged to take pride in our appearance, in the work we do, in the way we treat ourselves....but at what point does pride become prideful arrogance?

 

I was strolling around Stuff-Mart the other day when I was approached by a person, shabbily dressed and had a bit of a funk going on, asking if I had any change.  I didn't even bother to check, because I usually don't carry cash, so I brushed her off with a brusque "Sorry no" and kept right on with my mission.  As I wandered through Stuff-Mart, I couldn't shake that image.  Am I better than her?  Had I really become so Pridefully Arrogant that I would look on another human being with disdain?  I was so caught up with this God sent interrogation (I began to understand every so slightly how Job felt when God told him to put on his Big Boy Britches because God was going to ask Job a few questions), that I completely forgot what I had gone to Stuff-Mart to purchase in the first place.

 

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, I ended up getting some food and other supplies.  Then I went back outside and saw this person slowly trudging away.  I caught up and asked if they had a place to stay, and was told "for now" but all the money had been spend on rent and electricity.  I gave the person all that I had purchased and several phone numbers of groups who might be of help.  The tears shed by this person broke my heart all over again.

 

What have we to feel Pridefully Arrogant about?  Are we truly better than any other human being?

Topsy Turvy Message

Whoever makes himself great will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be made great.

Matthew 23:12 

 

We are taught from an early age that we have to put ourselves first in all things or else we will get trampled.  I will admit that I fell for that "wisdom" for a time.  I had to be first!  I had to be top dog!  I had to be in charge!  I had to do more!  And all I got for my efforts?  Exhausted!

 

Finally I realized that Jesus' seemingly topsy turvy message actually made sense.  When I stopped pushing myself to be first, and focused on being humble and helpful the relief was ENORMOUS!  It is more rewarding to do for others than it is to push oneself forward by stepping on others.

 

God's messages to us sometimes get ignored because they go directly against our human nature and what we have been led to believe.  Stop striving and be humble.  You'll experience life in a whole new and wonderful way.

Time To Actually DO Something!

But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”
Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”
“Yes, come,” Jesus said.
So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”
When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.
Matthew 14:27-32 

We hear it frequently...."I can't."  I hear it quite often from people who CAN but just want someone else to do it for them.  

Children are very good at this little game:

     Parent: Help me carry the groceries into the house.

     Child: I can't!  I am already doing something.

Sound familiar?  You see, we use "I can't" in place of "I don't want to" with astounding regularity.  And the truly sad part of this, is instead of holding the "I can't" accountable, we just sigh and do everything ourselves because "I don't want to" start an argument.

Here's an eye-opener for you: Almost every miracle Jesus performed, He required the recipient to DO something.  When Peter wanted to walk on water, Jesus didn't magically transport him out of the boat, He told Peter to DO something!  

Jesus told Peter "Come" which meant Peter had to:

•  gather the courage within himself, 
• step out of the boat, 
• TURN LOOSE OF THE BOAT, 
• ignore the raging storm around him,
•  and walk.

In Mark 2:1-12, a paralyzed man was lowered through the roof of a house by his friends.  The man was paralyzed, yet Jesus told him in verse 11:

• stand up
• pick up your mat
• go home

You'd think, because the man was paralyzed, Jesus would simply take pity on him and not expect anything from him.  Taking pity on someone, and you might not like this but it's true, means you have GIVEN UP on that person!  Having Compassion means you are willing to help but you expect effort from them in return.

 

We see this quite often from those who want you to give them ______ (housing, food, money, insert your favorite "help me request") without any effort on their part being expected or required.  It might sound harsh, if we were not supposed to actually put forth any effort, God would have created the Universe to revolve around us and everything on the Earth would be so easy, that we could lay around in our floatie chairs and do nothing!

 

People actually make it their life's mission to seek pity from others so they don't have to DO anything for themselves!  And many of us will sacrifice everything we have (life savings, time, effort, relationships, you name it) so the pity seeking person will not be inconvenienced by actually being expected to DO anything for themselves.  

 

1. Helen Keller - was born deaf AND blind, yet learned to overcome her disabilities to become an inspiration to others.
2. Tom Dempsey - was born without toes on his right foot and without fingers on his right hand, yet on November 8, 1970 he kicked the game winning 63-yard field goal for New Orleans against Detroit.
3. Stephen Hawking - has become paralyzed due to motor neurone disease and can now communicates using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device, yet is an author, lecturer, and professor.

We hear about marathon runners who use prosthetic legs.  We hear about blind mountain climbers. We hear story after story about people who decided that they wanted to DO instead of receive pity.

 

Here's my point: If Jesus expected those He helped to DO for themselves (thus, removing their excuses) who are we to do otherwise?  

 

Ya'll Watch This!

I honestly expect and hope that I will never do anything to be ashamed of. Whether I live or die, I always want to be as brave as I am now and bring honor to Christ.

Philippians 1:20

If you've ever wondered whether or not God has a sense of humor, look at the actions of some of humanity.  Humans aren't exactly noted for being the brightest or the sharpest.  We may have conquered travel to the Moon, but I've seen these same brilliant people bang their face while pushing the door clearly marked "Pull."

I had a professor in college who would fill eager minds with knowledge and when each class ended he would always remind us, "You reflect what you've learned here...don't embarrass me!"  

The Apostle Paul was a very proud man.  And, by all intents and purposes, had every right to be proud.  He was a Roman Citizen. He was born into the Tribe of Benjamin which was a HUGE deal.  He was a "Hebrew among Hebrews" which meant he and his family were pretty big muckety-mucks in their society.  Paul was also circumcised on the eighth day (as prescribed by Jewish Law), notice it wasn't the 7th day or the 9th day but Paul emphasizes the 8th day!  Paul had studied the Law of Moses and because of his strict adherence to the Law, he was made a Pharisee.  All these great things, yet he wanted to make trouble for the church so off he went to destroy the church of Christ.  God had to put a stop to this less than brilliant strategy.

Now look at the Apostle Peter.  Peter was a proud man.  He had the base education required of all Jewish boys.  Peter was a fisherman by trade.  He was wise in that it takes much wisdom to know where to throw your nets in order to catch the fish you need to survive.  But Peter was also among the "Ya'll Watch This" group.  Peter fell all over himself trying to impress Jesus or trying to avoid punishment.  Read about the exploits of Peter and if you don't chuckle a few times, you're not reading it right.

We don't like being an embarrassment to those we care about.  We don't want to bring shame on our family or group of friends.  But do we bring shame to the family of Christ by our words or actions or thoughts or intentions?  Worth a think?

 

Being Humble Is A Virtue

When he noticed that all who came to the dinner were trying to sit near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: “If you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t always head for the best seat. For if someone more respected than you shows up, the host will bring him over to where you are sitting and say, ‘Let this man sit here instead.’ And you, embarrassed, will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! “Do this instead—start at the foot; and when your host sees you he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place than this for you!’ Thus you will be honored in front of all the other guests. For everyone who tries to honor himself shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself shall be honored.”
Luke 7:1-11

You've heard the song before: "O Lord, It's Hard To Be Humble When You're Perfect In Every Way".  Look around! We see people who are bent on forcing NOT the "Me First" mentality but the "ME ONLY" mentality.  We see marches and shouting and parading and posturing and rioting and pushing and shoving, but no one is listening because everyone is putting themselves first.  And how is that working?  

And guess what?  "Black Friday" is this week! Talk about a "ME FIRST" fest!  The news will report on the mobs attacking the stores and how people get trampled (some to death) all so that a few can be the first to grab the few enticement goodies that are available.  WHY has such scenes become so popular?  Because we have forgotten how to be humble!

I saw a news story, several years ago, about a youth group from a local church actually going out in the wee hours of Black Friday Morning for the sole purpose of giving out coffee and hot chocolate to those in line.  At first, all went well and people were appreciative, but it didn't take long before the group's van was swarmed with people, not wanting, but DEMANDING coffee and hot chocolate.  The news story ended with the police having to escort the group out of the area.

When will we learn?  What will God need to do to remind us that God did not HAVE to create us...He chose to.  He did not HAVE to send Jesus to pay for our wrongdoing...He chose to.  God does not HAVE to love us....He chose to.  We OWE God EVERYTHING, and He owes us NOTHING!  When we truly see ourselves from that perspective, we will learn how to be humble!   

Tough Decisions Start Early!

Teach children how they should live, 

and they will remember it all their life.

Proverbs 22:6

Did you know that our children learn their behaviors from us whether we consciously teach them or not?  Don't think so?  Look around!  How many times do we see children who seem to believe their actions have no consequences?  They do what they want, hurt who they want, disrespect, and even kill others but are not held responsible or accountable because the parents will raise a ruckus and file countless frivolous lawsuits, stage marches and protests.....instead of teaching their children that if they want respect, they must be respectful and respectable.

We have a generation of children who are having children because they have been taught that "someone else" (the taxpayers) will pay for them.  We have children with no respect because the parents are "too busy" or "too tired" or "just don't care" to teach children how to be respectable.  We have a generation of parents who want to coddle and worship their children instead of actually taking on the responsibility of teaching their children to be productive members of society.

We have parents who want someone else (school, government, church) to teach their children but never instill any discipline in them.  I admit it, I never did like being disciplined.  I have the unfortunate circumstance of attending an elementary school where my Mom was a substitute teacher.  If I got disciplined at school, my Mom knew about it BEFORE I got home.  When I got home, I got disciplined by Mom.  And guess what?  When Dad got home, I got disciplined again!  No, I didn't get a toy taken away or get grounded for an hour or sent to time out....I got DISCIPLINED!  And you know what? It didn't take me long to get the point to not do that act again.  But today, discipline is not taught or enforced or even considered, because a child acting up is never the child's responsibility to face it's always "someone else's" fault.

A child is disruptive at school and the teachers aren't allowed to discipline the child, they are expected to coddle and ignore the disruptive behavior.  Administrators are not allowed to discipline the child because the parent or parents will be up in arms with lawyers and "activists" shouting, marching and protesting (and suing).  

So when does the spiral stop?  When are we going to step up and say "ENOUGH"! When are we going to hold the parents responsible for not teaching the child and hold the child responsible for their actions?  If you truly LOVE your children as much as you claim, then teach them that they are PART of this world, not the center of the universe.  Teach them to respect themselves by respecting others!

It's not an easy job being a parent.  It's far beyond time for parents to BE parents and stop coddling and worshiping their children.  Remember, these same children who have not been taught discipline will be the people taking care of us sooner than we expect.

Where Do I Go From Here?

Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”

“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear!  You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.

~Genesis 4:9-15

Cain had made a VERY bad choice.  He took a life out of anger.  Cain made an even worse mistake in taking the life of his own flesh and blood...out of anger.  When God confronted Cain, notice how Cain's sarcasm is used as a defense: “I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

When you are dealing with God, it is NEVER a good idea to use sarcasm, especially as a defense regarding our own actions.  God called Cain out on the fact that Abel's very lifeblood cried out to Him from the dirt, and Cain knew it was over.  God pronounced His judgement and told Cain that from here out, life was going to be painful.  

But also notice something about God's Mercy!  When God's judgement is pronounced, Cain told God that his life would be too hard for him to live.  People would kill him if they found out that he took a life, especially his own brother's life.  And as a wanderer, he would be left to fend for himself which would leave him vulnerable to thieves, bandits, and thugs.  But God's Mercy is shown when He tells Cain that ANYONE who does him harm will be punished SEVEN TIMES worse than anything they had done to Cain. And to prove His point, God put a mark on Cain.

Have you ever messed up SO badly that you thought your life and usefulness were over?  Have you even made such a bad decision that you wondered how you would ever recover? I have.  It's not a good feeling at all!  You wonder why God even allows another breath...yet He does.  Is it for His own grins and giggles watching our torment?  No.  God has two reasons for keeping us here: 1) So we can learn from our mistakes and, thus, help others to avoid making the same mistakes, 2) Because God is in the miracle business and can make diamonds out of lumps of coal!

You see, we demonize Cain for his rash decision and for just being a bad guy.  But God uses Cain's story to remind us that, even though we mess up and must accept the consequences for our decisions, God is STILL merciful to us!  He doesn't have to be, but loves us so much that He rains down His mercy on us every day!

Complacent, Apathetic or Alert?

We prayed to our God and stationed a guard 

to protect against them both day and night. 

Nehemiah 4:9 

 

Today's verse was written while Nehemiah and a remnant of the Jewish people had returned to a destroyed Jerusalem in order to rebuild it.  But as they went about rebuilding it, their enemies decided this was not a good idea and would attack the workers and then re-destroy the work that had been done. Lot's of people would have decided that rebuilding the city was just not worth it, and would have gone back into captivity.  But God had told Nehemiah to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and Nehemiah was going to do just that even if he had to do it all by himself.

 

 When I was in the Army (HOOAH), one of my grunt duties was pulling guard duty.  Most of the time guard duty consisted of hiding in the brush, getting chewed up my bugs and critters, dealing with the weather conditions, just so no one would pass into the camp without permission....pretty much routine boredom broken only when someone came to relieve you.  I even had decided to earn a little extra cash by taking someone else's watch for a small fee.  I did this so often that I had a nice chunk of change and had gotten very complacent.  When my Sergeant found out, he made it a point to enter my perimeter without permission and put an end to my little enterprise.

 

 Let's think about something for a moment.  Why would they pray to God AND station a guard? So we don't grow complacent!  We have seen this in the news more and more of late, people getting killed in churches, theaters, at gas stations, at grocery stores...the physical threat is very real and we need to be on our guard.  BUT what about the movies we watch, what about "I'm too tired to discipline my kids", what about "If the store gave me too much change, too bad for them", what about "everything's going my way so why pray."  

 

We, as a society and as Believers, have become complacent!  We have not only let our guard down, we have fired our guard because "it can't happen to me."  And when something bad DOES happen, what do we say? "How could God let this happen to me?"  Hmmmm.....

What's In A Title?

 “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart,

 but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” 

(By saying this, he declared that every 

kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you.  
For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, 
deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.  
All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
~Matthew 7:18-23

People love to be treated special, don't we?  We LOVE it when we are given deference; when doors not normally open for others are opened for us.  I remember when I was interviewing for a position with an organization where many of its members had political clout, and the first question asked me was "And just who do you know?"  I eventually got the job even though I didn't know anyone with the right clout, and then I got to deal with a whole new pool of "Don't You Know Who I Am?" clods.

One of my seminary professors had a wall full of degrees (5 Doctorates earned...not honorary and 7 Masters Degrees), so you can imagine the intimidation of having to meet with him as a lowly seminary student hoping to achieve my first Master's Degree.  I was nervous and called him Doctor and Reverend and Bishop... He looked at me sternly and said, "Stop! You are trying to impress me and you are failing, so STOP!"  I asked him sheepishly what I should call him.  Imagine my surprise and relief when he smiled and said, "Call me George.  It's the name on my birth certificate."

Think about this, how many times do we encounter people who insist on being called by their titles instead of their names, as if titles make them better than human.  That same professor reminded our class that "All the degrees and titles in God's universe will not save you from being human! Learn to be humble; to get into the dirt and wipe the filth from those you have been called to minister to; listen to the soul in agony of loss pouring out their hurt to you.  Never lose who God birthed you to be in the forest of titles and degrees!  Matter of fact, I have never found in Scripture where Jesus had a degree yet we seek to example this carpenter from Nazareth."

Arrogance gives Christians a very bad name!  Let's learn to humility and genuine caring.