I apologize that I missed sending a post last week. I was busy completing some work around the house (laminate flooring in two rooms so far).
This week I would like to continue our exploration of desire needing direction with the second of the 7 deadly sins: Pride.
Pride is defined as "thinking of yourself more highly than you ought". Pride begins with desire. It is our desire to feel good about ourselves, and pride can be a good thing. It is good to take pride in your work, and in who you are. However, pride becomes a problem when our opinion of ourselves becomes overinflated, like a balloon about to burst.
When pride becomes overinflated, it can cause us to look down on others, lose our ability to love people, and lead us to do things we should not do (whether a 40-year old man trying to jump a bicycle, or enter into a business opportunity without counting the cost). Overinflated pride can be very damaging indeed.
On the flip side, humility is "thinking of yourself as you are for who you really are". It is not self-deprecation, which causes us to devalue ourselves. Humility is an honest assessment of who we are and what we are able to do. Humility leads us to depend on God because it makes us realize how far short we fall of His glory. Humility also allows us to love others because it causes us to recognize the inherent value of each person.
So our prayer for this week would be for God to help us develop true humility, not self-deprecation but honest assessment, so that we can be who we really are and do what God wants us to do to make His kingdom come alive!
As pride breaks Shalom, so we pray that true humility can help us experience more of what God intends for us together.
These have been my thoughts, and I invite you to share some of your own, as we journey together along the Way ...
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