分类: Pride

11/9/2025 1 Comment

What Destroys Our Character?

Why is it so hard for Christians to finish well? Reading that question perhaps reminds you of someone who crashed and burned. It does not take much accounting to realize that many followers of Jesus who start well or accomplish great things somehow stumble at the finish line or simply quit running.

King Uzziah had it all. He had a brilliant military mind that conceptualized building devices that shot arrows and catapulted large stones from towers. These were crucial in defending Judah’s cities (26:15). God gave him success against his enemies, whom he defeated in battle, as long as he listened to the advice of Zechariah the priest.

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6/12/2025 0 Comments

He Couldn't Handle Success

Have you ever known someone who had the traits of likeability, kindness, and concern for others until they were promoted or achieved some recognized measure of success? The person you thought you knew is now impatient, less approachable, defensive, self-absorbed, and uninterested in your life and the lives of others. You try to imagine what happened to make this person so different.

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4/22/2025 0 Comments

Fully Mature

In a conversation bemoaning people's lack of curiosity about others today, 81-year-old Ross shared an interesting observation he learned from someone he respected. “We are high in connectivity and low in connection.” People are more engaged on social media than ever, but they are making fewer connections because most posts are self-focused. He identified this as expressive individualism, where “what I have to say is more important than what I have to hear.”

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4/8/2025 0 Comments

Self-Righteous

Meditation
Deuteronomy 9:5,6--You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

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4/1/2025 0 Comments

Deprived

Alice worked in the nursery for her church in California. A toddler needed his diaper changed and in the presence of the other workers, Alice changed it. When the child returned home the parents asked him if anyone had touched him and the child said yes and let them know it was Alice. The parents called Child Protective Services and they filed a report against Alice. The church by policy terminated her services despite the fact there were witnesses who stated she did nothing inappropriate. Alice was never told who made the accusation and was labeled as guilty of a sexual offense against a child with no means to clear her name. So, she lost her job. How could someone with a good heart serving the Lord get treated so poorly?

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3/6/2025 0 Comments

By the Strength of His Hand

Dave and Terri Legg

On 5 November 1992, three officials from the Russian Ministry of Education asked Christian educators to join the CoMission—a group of over 80 Christian organizations formed to instruct Russian public school teachers how to teach Christian ethics. This unusual invitation originated from the JESUS Film Project’s efforts to show the JESUS film in Russia.[1]

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12/24/2024 0 Comments

Insignificant

He was born in a lowly place—a smelly stable in a manger, nursed among unclean animals because his parents were required by edict to register in an obscure village—Bethlehem, the town Micah, the prophet, foretold (Micah 5:2). His father, Joseph, nearly in secret divorced the unborn Child’s mother, Mary, until an angel intervened and informed him that she conceived through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:19,20). Joseph was a humble carpenter, whose trade he would pass on to his Boy, raised in the Galilean town of Nazareth. “‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Nathanael asked him. ‘Come and see,’ Philip answered” (John 1:46).

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12/3/2024 0 Comments

The Seeking Trifecta

Marine Captain Ray Smith, while serving as a military advisor to 250 Vietnamese Marines, was attacked by an overwhelming Viet Cong force while defending a hilltop outpost. The assault was so savage, and the weather was so bad (preventing close air support) that Smith had to lead the remaining 28 Vietnamese Marines to the safety of friendly lines. Because he was carrying a radio, Smith courageously threw himself backward on top of their own booby-trap-infested wire barrier so 28 Marines could move over the crushed wire, stepping on his prostrate body to safety. Despite severe cuts and bruises, Smith successfully fought and led those under his care to safety, winning him a Navy Cross.[1]

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11/19/2024 0 Comments

Hidden Things

Jesus performed many miracles in the cities He walked, which should have authenticated His message, and yet most of those He encountered would not repent of their sins. Their hardheartedness kept them from recognizing the hand of God’s Son at work and connecting their need to listen to Him. He criticized them for their attitude and warned them of God’s impending judgment (Matthew 11:20-24).

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11/17/2023 2 Comments

Blind Faith

Johnny* bought a car, a really nice new shiny red car. His wife counseled him not to make the purchase. His financial advisor warned him it could put him in unsustainable debt. But Johnny didn’t care to listen. This car was going to make up for all the “beater,” used, ordinary cars he was tired of driving. It would let everyone know he was doing well—after all he served the King and those who serve the King deserve the best. Right?!

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8/23/2023 0 Comments

Ability

Susana got up in front of everyone at the funeral and shared that she was sure she would be in heaven because she was a good person. Her expression is a classic belief held by countless people that because of their capacity for good, God cannot but let them into His place of dwelling.

Joe struggles with life. He feels he is not very good at anything and questions his value to God even though he has a strong relationship with Jesus. Because his abilities are limited, his self-esteem is relatively low. He weakly understands how valuable he is in God’s sight.

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7/1/2022 0 Comments

Inability to See

Meditation
John 8:25-27—“Who are You?” they questioned. “Precisely what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the One who sent Me is true, and what I have heard from Him—these things I tell the world.” They did not know He was speaking to them about the Father.

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2/10/2022 0 Comments

The Bad Leader

We have all experienced them—leaders, who exhibit selfishness in the midst of a crisis. One of the reasons why I believe the Bible is the greatest book on leadership is the plethora of examples of good and bad leaders. So let’s look at a man who shows us what not to do.

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12/31/2021 0 Comments

Finding Stasis

Meditation
Daniel 5:26-28--This is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. TEKEL means that you have been weighed in the balance and found deficient.PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

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3/14/2021 0 Comments

Separated Ones

A group of people determined to separate themselves in the pursuit of holiness. They gave themselves a name—Perushim, which means separated ones. Over time as they concentrated on holy living, they became proud and self-righteous. On the outside they looked great but on the inside they rotted.[1]

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9/30/2020 0 Comments

The Return

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, “It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” On April 30, 1863, Lincoln's National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer was observed. Two days later, Lt. General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded in a freak accident where he was shot by his own troops. The loss of this powerful Confederate leader changed the course of the war.[1]

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7/18/2020 1 Comment

Self-Dependent

Meditation
Isaiah 22:10,11--You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall. You made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider the One who created it long ago.

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12/10/2019 0 Comments

Isolated and Insecure

Meditation
Proverbs 18:1—One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment.

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6/7/2019 0 Comments

Hail

Hail is mentioned 36 times in the Bible. The majority (16x) are recorded in the book of Exodus. Thirty-one times hail is used as an instrument of God’s anger and judgment. We see this particularly evident when God devastated Egypt with hail as one of the ten plagues to force Pharaoh to release the Israelites from captivity. Forty some years later, God used hail to wipe out the armies of five Amorite kings who attacked Israel.

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9/18/2018 0 Comments

Power of the Word

John George graduated into heaven recently. He was a man for whom I will eternally be grateful. At a time when I was a cocky senior at West Point, he accurately confronted me about pride and forever changed my life. John knew that the Bible warns us in Proverbs 16:18 that “Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.” His exhortation scared me to death that God would not use me for His kingdom.

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