"Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil." Proverbs 3:7
Humans have a remarkable ability to be extremely arrogant. Perhaps because this is such an easy trap to fall into; God uses the Scripture to repeatedly warn us of its danger. When we make one choice based solely upon our own wisdom, the second one always comes much easier. Like a teenager that trusts himself to know the limits rather than take the sage advice of a grandparent, we tend to look pathetic and misguided to others around us, but having become so caught up in our own conceit, we don't notice. While others shake their heads and wag their fingers, we go blindly on toward self-destruction.
You see, a conceited nature never calls it quits. It effects all parts of our lives. Bible study becomes a time of judgement. Although we may never have the audacity to voice our reservations about some of the mandates of Scripture, in our hearts we began to "modernize" God's Word to us. "Tweaking" what God obviously meant when He gave different commands. This will throw us in a whirlwind of poor choices that can reduce our quality of life very quickly - not one of us are immune to its effects.
"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Pro 16:25) Inevitably choices made without the Leadership of Christ will bring disappointment and some very high costs. We have all seen the broken lives that result from people seeing only their own way in matters. How many divorces are caused by this? How many people find themselves addicted to some type of drug because of this? How many wealthy and seemingly successful people live a life of secret torture because of self-dependence? The list could continue indefinitely.
So, what is our real example? Jesus Christ came to the earth "meek and lowly". The very Creator of the universe had a humble nature and taught us through example that we should seek the will of God through thoughtful prayer and supplication. Jesus said "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (John 5:19) Remarkable. Jesus was sinless; He would not make any mistakes, and yet, because He would be an example to all generations, He chose to illustrate what our relationship with God should be. He could have easily just "done things" and every decision would have still been correct. But He knew that it wouldn't work that way for us. We had to know to seek divine guidance every step of the way. Jesus "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant" (Phil. 2:7) and left with us that incredible legacy.
So how do we become servants when we have always considered ourselves to be king? First we acknowledge our humanity. We must fully accept that left to ourselves we make poor self centered decisions. We must read and study the Scriptures daily. Gleaning the truth and accepting it as far superior to our own wisdom. We must stand on the Word of God in our daily lives and do not attempt to mold or change its meaning to "fit the situation". If lying is unacceptable - then it is always unacceptable. It's no more permitted to lie at the office in order to gain respect from people that "should have noticed before now" than it was for the false witnesses that condemned Stephen to death.
If "thou shalt not steal" was set in stone thousands of years ago, the same truth rings through today.
In the decisions that we face in life, like Christ, we must seek the will of our Father. The throne of Grace is not a courtroom. We are not there to argue our case. God does not desire to be convinced of a wonderful business opportunity or to hear how a possible mate is not saved but is still a good person. He wants us to bow at His feet ask for direction and in every instance declare that we come to do His will and not our own [Luke 22:42, Heb. 10:7-9].
The truth is, there are many times when we have a good idea of what His answer will be, and because it is not the decision that we want to hear, we avoid it. Our self centered nature doesn't want to hear that something we desire may be wrong for us in the long run. Like spoiled children we want instant gratification.
What is so important to remember is that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son" (John 3:16). God loves us that much. He gave His son to die a cruel death so that we might have eternal life. In fact the Bible says that it "pleased the Lord to bruise Him" (Isa. 53:10). Why? Because we are so special to Him. In the pain and suffering of Jesus, God saw the salvation of mankind. Redemption for Adam, that had wandered away from Him so long ago. God loved Adam and his seed so much that He was willing to give up His only begotten son in order to adopt Adam back into the fold. Adam, who had trusted his own decisions over the mandates of God, was being provided a way back to the tree of life - God was pleased. Beloved "now are we the sons of God" (I John 3:2). We have all the rights and privileges of Jesus Christ. It's only a matter of trusting God more than we trust ourselves. |
