I looked the part—you know, all holy and godly—as I stood in front of the congregation with the other deacons, but inside I was full of all kinds of ugly and sinful thoughts. If only the people knew.
I had written my first communion meditation on my own, a pretty good one if I do say so myself. But the @#$#$&!!! elders had asked another man to do it. And the other guy, well, pretty much of a loser in my book.
And so there I stood in front of the stage as he walked up to the lectern behind me to deliver what would surely be a mediocre effort.
Was I ever in for a surprise.
He used the same passage I was going to use and made the same observations I was going to make. It was as if he was reading word-for-word from the written meditation I had prepared.
I got the Lord’s message loud and clear: “You’ve got an attitude problem, son, and I don’t use people who are puffed up with pride.”
Remembering that moment still makes me cringe. Even though no one knew what I was going through I felt as if they did. I was completely humiliated and humbled like never before, and the Lord made it happen in front of 300+ people.
I could feel my face blushing in shame so I stared at the floor, waiting, ever so long, for the moment to end. The urge to cry was strong, but I fought it off. Not going to do it. Not in front of all of these people.
God taught me a lesson that day, a lesson I will never forget.
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”1
That day I became very familiar with “disgrace.”
I’d like to spare you the same fate, so I’m advocating a Scriptural heart check today. I urge you to read each verse or passage and then answer—honestly—each of the six questions.
1. “(Love) is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.”2
“Am I self-seeking?”
2. “If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”3
“Am I selfishly ambitious?”
3. “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."4
“Am I humbly serving other people?”
4. “Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?’”5
“Am I denying myself?”
5. “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”6
“Am I seeking the good of others vs. myself?”
6. “Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself.”7
“Am I trying to please myself or others?”
So how did you make out? Yeah, I know, it’s not much fun, is it?
But hey, better to be humbled now vs. later, right? Why not deal with any pride issues now, in the privacy of your home? If you don’t, God may choose to humble you more publicly.
Trust me, you don’t want that.
1 Proverbs 11:2
2 1 Corinthians 13:5
3 James 3:14-16
4 Matthew 20:26-28
5 Luke 9:23-25
6 1 Corinthians 10:24
7 Romans 15:1-3
No comments:
Post a Comment