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“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15-17

The enticement of the world is strong. We are all encamped in its arms. We may believe we are independent. We stand on our own two feet. That no one influences us. We make our own beds. We think.

Yet, over time, slowly, within each day, the cultural influence sneaks in. When we are young, we have little awareness of the power of our desires. If it feels good, we do it. If we want something, we go after it. If it makes us exalt ourselves, we get it.

But as the years go by, hopefully one learns before the floor crashes. Not everything we desire is good for us. Our feelings may be misplaced. All the toys, status, fame, and fortune available to us does not buy us real love, joy, and peace. What we thought would give us the freedom to experience life to the fullest, didn’t. Instead it has led us into a prison of emptiness.

The pride of placing oneself the center of the universe has caused many downfalls. We initially see this outcome in Genesis 3 with Eve grasping for the forbidden fruit. Compare this event with Jesus in Luke 4. Under a similar temptation, HE placed God in the center of HIS world and didn’t allow the enemy to win.

The pride of self-importance only leads to a prison of spiritless outcomes. When pride elevates us ahead of God, watch out. We have lost our way. When we take all the credit for our accomplishments, look out. We are walking into solitary confinement. A place where we get a nasty taste of ourselves. Pride is the downfall of many.

Over the years, I have either seen or experienced how pride locks up their victims. For example:

Pride prevents one from having a deep relationship with others.

Pride fails to forgive others and turns the event into a life-long road of bitterness.

Pride fails to forgive oneself causes one to live like a victim without hope.

Pride pushes help away until one lives an isolated life without friends or family.

Pride causes one to sacrifice their health for the attainment of a fleeting moment.

Pride isolates one to their hurt.

Pride makes one miss out on the virtue of humility and its fruit.

Pride’s short-term win leads to long-term failure.

Pride destroys friendships.

Pride leads to poor decisions which may destroy one’s life work.

Pride blinds oneself from the need of a Savior.

The list is endless. Each of us lives with pride. The problem is when it raises its ugly head to blind us from reality. How do we deal with it?

When one begins to live under God’s domain, one learns how to live with a servant’s heart. Humility becomes the robe to cover our pride. Yes, we appreciate pride when the moment is right. But we also know pride without God’s Spirit leading causes damage. As we surrendered our kingdom to Lord Jesus, we are being trained to live like HIM. This means placing Father-Son-Spirit the center of our life. When one does, one learns to share in the Triune God’s life. Pride then doesn’t lead to a prison sentence, but a pathway of humility with freedom for self and others.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

^{Faith-Integrator, Encourager, Scribbler}

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“We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,” (Colossians 1:9)

^“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”. Eph 2:8-9 ESV.

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Faith is given to us by God. We don’t generate Godly faith. God disperses faith (Rm. 12:3). It is His gift to us. We simply exercise it.

We exercise faith when we walk it out and through it. Faith is not the cause of our salvation. We are not saved by faith, but by grace. We are saved (justified) by the grace of Jesus Christ. However, by walking through the faith given to us, we are being saved (regenerated) into the image of Jesus Christ.

Poor theology places the cause of salvation with our faith. Our response is not the cause of salvation; our response is the effect of salvation. In the words of cause and effect, our salvation is caused by Jesus Christ and our response is the effect of salvation.

If our faith is the cause of salvation, then we wouldn’t need a savior. However, since Jesus Christ is the reality of salvation, we either accept that reality or not. When we accept that reality, we begin to experience the power of salvation.

A good example is gravity. We acknowledge its existence and respect its authority. Just like your belief doesn’t cause gravity to exist; you simply acknowledge the truth and live life accordingly.

So walk your life through the faith God has given you. Be grateful for the grace He has bestowed upon you. There is nothing to boast about except what God has done.

Therefore, learn to live out your life with the faith He has given you. You will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Rooting For You in Christ!