Melody

Have you ever been in the position of starting a project and thinking “Yes! This is going to be really worthwhile – I’m positive I should do this and I’ll probably benefit myself and others with the outcome”; and then about 1/3 of the way into this project you start to think “Dang it – what was I thinking – this is requiring a lot more of me than I thought and I’m already starting to get tired of the process – maybe the outcome isn’t worth it… but it’s probably too late to turn back now…Grrrr”.  Well, just between you and me, that’s what writing an article series about pride and humility is like (practicing what you preach or put on paper)… Grrrr.

Last month I broached the subject of catching the full attention of God through humility and the basic concepts of what pride and humility look like for the “run of the mill” disciple of Christ like you and me. Generally when I’m trying to learn about a particular topic I can only take “theory” in small doses and then like to skip right to the “how to’s”. This article is going to be especially helpful for those of us “doers” in the crowd; now we’re going to get really practical: identifying some classic expressions of pride and next month some short thoughts on humility – don’t you just love bullet points!

Classic expressions of pride:

1. Not wanting to talk with someone or spend time with someone because they just don’t quite measure up.
2. Thinking “they should have asked me to do that, I would have done it better”.
3. Wanting to turn the conversation to highlight something you have done.
4. Getting most of your sense of worth from having a group of people who are loyal to you.
5. Feeling a good report of someone else lessens your worth.
6. Having as your deepest conviction about advice being “after all, advice is just advice, you don’t have to take it”.
7. Lack of openness about important areas of your life like your times with God, your marriage, your dating, your other relationships.
8. Asking your spouse not to discuss your marriage with others or to call for help.
9. Not asking for counsel, advice, or perspective about dating, marriage, parenting, finances, evangelism and other vital issues.
10. Knowing that you are wrong, but resisting admitting to yourself and then to others.
11. For men only: being particularly defensive about something pointed out to you by a woman.
12. For women only: men are automatically thought of as “Lords” or “idiots”.
13. For leaders: preaching what others ought to be doing, but not being open about the fact that you are not doing those things yourself.
14. Believing your approach to ministry is much better than that of others, thinking you have the right balance or emphasis that others don’t have.
15. Hearing about some leader’s problems and feeling better about yourself because that has not happened to you.
16. Hearing a speaker giving out praise and waiting for your name to be spoken.
17. Feeling cheated because you did not get to work with someone or did not get to be involved with a project for which you thought you were well suited.
18. Only half listening to what someone is telling you because in your opinion they are not that important of a person.
19. Resenting the input of a much younger Christian, feeling that they should not give such to someone who has been around as long as you.
20. Being given a lot to do and then going after it, without much prayer.
21. Seldom asking others seriously to pray for you.
22. Not volunteering for something because you fear making mistakes or failing, and you don’t want to look bad.
23. Not being supportive and encouraging of peers, not celebrating their victories because you are highly competitive.
24. Interrupting and finishing people’s sentences.
25. Having a strong desire to guard your territory and letting that rob you of a greater “good of the church” outlook.
26. Avoiding situations where you might have to do something that looks menial or servile, coming up with great spiritual excuses about it.
27. Consistently thinking that the assignments given you or the ministry arrangements made for you don’t show an adequate degree of appreciation.
28. Neglecting to pray when giving and taking advice from other Christians.
29. Not planning special times to just go be with God.
30. Thinking pride is not that big a problem for you.
31. Not necessarily wanting to share a project or idea with another, wanting it to be your “baby” from start to finish – refusing help or input.
32. Not confessing sin unless you are backed into a corner and confronted.

What has the Holy Spirit been showing you about self-centeredness or controlling attitudes?

There is a great saying in recovery circles: “the first step to getting well is ADMITTING you have a problem”. Hopefully this checklist brought us a little further down that road. Next month’s blog will show us how we can turn the tables on our personal menace – pride. In the meantime pray, confess, and repent (turn around and go the other way).

At this point it’s only fitting to give credit where credit is due. The bullet points and final thoughts on recognizing pride were taken from a book called “The Prideful Soul’s Guide to Humility” by Thomas Jones and Michael Fontenot. I highly recommend it since it’s intensely practical.

Final thoughts: What is a healthy soul? It is one permeated with humility. Pride is a soul pollutant. Pride prevents the souls from communing with God, other souls and stops relationships that give richness to life. when the soul is humble it can soar. It can stand in awe of God and see clearly hear the voice of God and understand his will. In humility the soul can touch the work of God and become part of a great plan to change many lives. The humble soul is free to be grateful and free to give praise. When the soul is humble it is emptied of self and it can be filled with the Spirit of God, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Praying for your progress and mine! Until next month, Melody

First of all before I begin I must confess that I’m writing on a topic in which I’m an “amateur expert” (in the area of pride) and an overwhelmingly “inept novice” (in the area of humility) – at least a novice determined to make some changes!  When being honest with one’s self it’s staggering to realize just how good I (we all) can be at practicing pride and how infantile we can be in our progress practicing humility.  In general most of us would shun the thought of ourselves as prideful, in fact we aspire to see ourselves as humble servants, “by golly we’re good common Christian folk leading simple lives, how could we be proud – we’re not big shots”.  Sadly pride is the core problem behind all sin with humility being it’s only cure and obviously the cross of Christ the complete answer.

If we go all the way back to the beginning of time, the introduction of rebellion and evil came into play when the most beautiful, powerful and influential of all angelic beings, Lucifer, let pride rule the day, “(saying in his heart) I will ascend the heights of the Heavens – I will be like the Most Hight (God).”  Isaiah 14:13 Too bad he already had it all and yet he wanted more… This common theme runs through the beginning of time to the very end of the age, Adam & Eve wanting to know the inside scoop on good and evil (just like God) they already had it all but just wanted more; the Tower of Babel where humanity wanted to “make a name for themselves” (just like God) again, had a fresh start after the flood but it wasn’t enough; the nation of Israel wanting to hedge their bets on regional gods just in case Jehovah God didn’t come through for them (being the god of their own gods to secure the “good life”) really?, a golden calf instead of God himself and that Red Sea thing wasn’t enough?  On and on it goes, all the way to the end of time where people will endure excruciating sores, blood and death, poisoned waters, burning heat, utter darkness, mega earthquakes and still have the pride to take Jesus on in an epic battle – I heard one person put it this way: “when you’re going into an alley fight and the opposition shows up in white suits you might want to think again”.

Glad us plain fold are past all that… maybe you are, but the “humility novice” penning this note is going to need some work.  We might not be literally shaking our fists in God’s face declaring He move over since we’re the new sheriff in town but a lot of sobering stuff is spoken “within the hear”.  So what do we do about our little dilemma?  First of all we need to have a better understanding on what pride really looks like.  James 4:6 tells us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace (favor) to the humble. What this means is sort of scary, God, yes the BIG ONE who created the entire universe, will actively come against us and we will ultimately be disciplined for a proud heart meaning eventually we’re going to be miserable.  “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall”, Proverbs 16:18.  ”Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord, be assured, he will not go unpunished”, Proverbs 16:5… strong language.

Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him.  Pride can be summed up like this:  self-glorification (it’s all about me).  I get the credit; I get my way; I’m admired and praised by myself or others; I know what’s best; I don’t take advise or handouts from anyone unless they’re qualified in my estimation; I’m highly aware and thinking of myself at all times (even negatively); I’m glad I’m not blowing it like the next guy; I think I’m usually treated unfairly; I need to teach somebody a lesson; I’m the great historian who needs to remind others of their flops; I’m not easily offended, I’m just a very sensitive person; it’s just my nature to question everything, how do I know you can do it correctly; I get the last word since I know what I’m talking about; I’m shocked and sort of ticked that I wasn’t consulted on the matter since I too have an opinion; those idiots in management don’t have a clue – I could do much better but wouldn’t want the job even if asked; I’m not proud – I just like to see things done well – I have high standards I guess; this isn’t pride I’m just pointing out what you’re doing wrong and it’s not Biblical; and FINALLY (but really there’s a lot more examples) I sure can see plenty of pride in those around me now that you mention it!

Yes, this is brutal so don’t shoot the messenger.  Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in the light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.  “Fore the eyes of the Lord run to and from throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him”, 2 Chronicles 16:9. God is decisively drawn to humility.  The person who is humble is the one who draws God’s attention, and in this sense, drawing His attention means also attracting His grace – His unearned kindness.  Think about that: there’s something you can do to attract more of God’s gracious, undeserved, supernatural strength and assistance!  Contrary to popular and false belief, it’s not “those who help themselves” whom God helps, it’s those who humble themselves, C.J. Mahaney.

Here is the contrast.  Pursuing greatness as sinfully and culturally defined looks like this: individuals motivated by self-interest, self-indulgence, and a false sense of self-sufficiency pursue selfish ambition for the purpose of self-glorification.  Pursuing true greatness as biblically defined: serving others for the glory of God.

Due to the enormous nature of this topic I will be writing on practical applications of pursuing humility while weeding out pride in the next few newsletters and blogs.  Here is your immediate homework assignment should you choose to take it (gee I think I hear the faint sound of the Mission Impossible theme song playing… I hope this laptop doesn’t explode).  #1 Begin by mustering up the courage (and humility) to prayerfully ask God and others you trust to reveal areas in your life where you act out of pride – then confess it as since (because it actually is).  #2 Every morning before beginning the day, ask God to actively humble you, making you aware of what He’s trying to reveal.  This is sort of painful and at times embarrassing but totally worth it since being proud is really exhausting due to the fact that it’s all about “me” and all up to “me”.

In the future we will be focused on specific topics exposing pride and practicing humility in our spiritual walk, our actions, words, attitudes and how to make practical applications in correcting ourselves.

I’ve taken a lot of great material from a little book by C.J. Mahaney entitled “Humility – true greatness“, in fact I have a few copies in my office available for anyone interested in tackling this tiger.

Blessings on your journey to freedom ~~ Melody

We’ve now drifted into that window of time where one year had drawn to a close and a brand new year awaits us with mystery and anticipation. Looking back on my own life I can’t believe all that has happened in just one short year, the marriage of a daughter, an educational trip to Israel, meeting great new friends, saying goodbye to some great old friends and simply doing life with a new perspective…. Oh and saying hello to a few new wrinkles, aches and pains.

In the life of Lake Community we have individually and corporately experienced similar adventures and are now another year older and wiser. Care ministry offered many opportunities for us to simply love each other in really basic ways, weather we served at the annual rummage sale, contributed to our food shelf or comforted another family in need, Jesus’ love was demonstrated through each and every one of us either in our giving or receiving. Our hearts go out to those who are facing this new year with  major adjustments due to loss or some unexpected path that was never imagined. The LCC family will once again be ready to lend a hand or a shoulder to offer comfort and support.

Women’s ministry walked through a great 2010 with exciting bible studies, fun events and more relationships being built or strengthened. To kick off 2011 we will be studying the book of 2^nd Samuel and trust me – this series of stories is amazing!!! Adventure, romance, drama and it’s all true!!! I’ve been asked if it’s an advanced class or if you haven’t taken any other bible studies will you be able to keep up? Two words: absolutely yes! You will definitely learn, have fun and grow deeper in your faith – the study of scripture guarantees this – you just have to show up and listen. The homework is as deep as you want to dig and the class discussions allow you to participate at your own personal comfort level. We will begin again at the beginning of February and the cost will be $20 for materials. Sign ups will begin in a couple of weeks.

Small discipleship groups are now forming and you have a great opportunity to launch your life in a new direction. This is where true, lasting heart change happens in a small group (3 – 4 people) who meet for about a year learning and practicing the essentials of the Christian faith. Every person who considers themselves a Christ follower should go through a basic discipleship group and now LCC is offering that opportunity. Meeting times are flexible; if you are interested in being part of a women’s or men’s small group touch base with either myself or Ron Berget to get involved.

As we all roll into 2011 together it’s my prayer that the most important thing that consistently surfaces in each of our lives is the desire to love and follow Jesus, because honestly when it’s all said and done…. That’s going to be the greatest question we will have to answer our Father God for…. “Did you love me and do what I asked you to do?” “Well then, good job my child, I am delighted, jump into my arms, here is your reward”.

Eagerly anticipating a new adventure ahead with each of you,

Melody

One of our church members works with a shelter up in Wadena and called with an urgent request for men’s winter coats.  Most of the men that come in are homeless so they show up with nothing.  With this bitter cold weather they could use our help.

Can you look through your closets and see if there are any coats you could part with?  Even if they aren’t the warmest, they would be most appreciated by the men and could be layered with sweatshirts.

Sizes needed are large and up from there.

As long as we are at it, if you have any men’s gloves or hats they would probably be useful too.

We will have a large box at the church where you can deposit your donated items.

Thank you for any items you can give!

Melody

Welcome to Lake Community Church Blog. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!