Quick Take – We just cannot seem to act differently than we feel.  If we are grumpy, everyone knows it.  If we are happy, why hide it?  If we are prideful, we will express it even when we think we are not.  It is impossible to be something other than what we are.  Pride will shut many doors of opportunity in our life.  Often, pride will keep us from learning what we need to know to get ahead in our career.  We have to be willing to admit we do not know it all.  A prideful boss will alienate his or her workers and they will never be loyal.  The worst thing pride will do is shut doors to witness to others.  If we allow ourselves to fall victim to spiritual pride, then others will not hear our message of salvation.  The words they will hear from us will not be love but pride.  Other people’s eternities depend on you controlling pride in your own heart.

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
James 1:26 (NASB)

And remember – Jesus wins,
Tim

     Digging Deeper – Christians seem to know they should fight pride about worldly things.  We try not to feel prideful because of our possessions, accomplishments, or talents.  We give the credit for all these things to the Living God and stay humble in those areas.  However, there is a kind of pride that attacks Christians specifically.  You might say we are genetically or spiritually predisposed to have these kinds of pride issues.
     The kind of pride we are susceptible to is spiritual pride.  It is something which seems to spring out of our spiritual growth and sends us backwards.  It is ironic that when we should be coming to a point of having a stronger witness, we fall into this trap of being prideful about our growth.  We tend to forget we were not the ones who were responsible for our growth in Christ.
     In reality, if we are afflicted with spiritual pride, then our growth probably was not a result of God’s work but our own.  We like to take over for God because His ways can be slow and painful.  We like to find the areas of spirituality where we naturally excel and focus our life around those things.  If we excel in family, then we become a spiritual giant in family matters.  We also become prideful very quickly because we know we were the ones who really did all the work.
     If we really enjoy the fellowship of our church, then we take pride in our good attendance.  If we naturally are even tempered, then we are prideful about how well we roll with the punches.  We all like to find an area we are already good at and use it to define our spiritual maturity which quickly leads to pride.
     When our growth is a result of God’s working on our life, the natural result is humility.  It is sad how spiritually prideful Christians rebel when someone has to humble them.  They are instantly filled with righteous indignation and they strike out.  This is not the kind of person who leads others to Christ because the world sees their pride and not humility.
     Humility is critical in our witness to others.  Humility tells others that God has done a good work in us and our own personal salvation is from God and not ourselves.  The prideful cannot convey that message because they give the world the impression they are a self made Christian.  They do not demonstrate grace but rather judgment.
     I know you want to be a witness for Christ, so pray that He will make you humble enough for others to see Him in your life and not your own human effort.
     Blessings, and thanks for digging deeper with me!

     Quick Take –Have you ever had someone you did not want to approach?  If you think about it, there was something about them that made approaching them unsafe.  Either you were afraid of them or afraid of their reaction.  Maybe they were condescending or angry towards others.  No one likes that kind of person.  Often, something prideful is in this person which makes them treat others that way.  Maybe they think their time is more valuable than yours or maybe they just do not like to listen to others.  If you dig deep enough, you will always find pride at the base of someone who keeps us at bay.  It is always offensive to be treated like this isn’t it?  By the way, have you ever had someone afraid to approach you?

A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, And contentions are like the bars of a citadel.
Prov. 18:19 (NASB)

And remember – Jesus wins,
Tim

     Digging Deeper – Pride is something that stands between us and others.  It is always out in front greeting people in its usually harsh way.  Pride lets anyone who approaches know that they are not as good.  Sadly, it only takes a little pride to do this to someone and once they are hurt, they will never forget the feeling and who it came from.
     I see people do this in their home all the time.  This is where we see how we really are.  At work we are guarded and careful.  At home, we say what we want and expect our family members to just accept us.  We often are harder on our families than we are on our coworkers. 
     This tells us that the first place we need to learn a nonabrasive attitude towards others is at home.  If you can’t do it there, you will never do it successfully anywhere else.  If you feel superior in any way to those in your home, you will also feel that way to outsiders.  Pride is not something we can confine to a certain part of our life.  Once infected with pride, it will color every part of our life to varying degrees.
     We need to start looking carefully at how people respond to us.  Does your wife or husband tell you bad news willingly?  Is she or he nervous and hesitant to “spit it out?”  Do your children feel they can talk to you?  I know so many parents who have alienated their children because they did not treat them as persons but inferior foolish little people.
     I also know bosses who do the same thing.  If you are a Christian boss, treating people in this prideful way will not make them want to come to you or listen.  There are a host of opportunities for ministry that you will eliminate based on your prideful, rude, or offensive treatment of them.  This is not the action and attitude of a leader but of a prideful person.
     If you have acted this way and allowed your pride to offend others, then you have some work to do if you ever expect to minister to them.  Confess your pride before the Lord and ask Him to change you.  Let go of those offensive attitudes and be humble to others.  Become a man or woman of God that others can relate to and come to about anything. Don’t let pride build a prison of isolation around you.  Reach out instead of striking out.  Let God use your humble spirit to reach others for Him.
Blessings, and thanks for digging deeper with me!

     Quick Take - Your imagination can be a wonderful tool.  It resides deep inside you and comes up with the ideas and innovations you need to move forward and do your job effectively.  Nothing great was ever done without imagination.  Since it is such a powerful tool, you need to be sure it is used correctly.   If pride ever begins to work in your imagination, it can become a very destructive tool very quickly.  You can glorify God with your imagination as long as you use it humbly before Him.  Pride distorts things and takes them in the opposite direction from where God wants to go and the first thing it takes is your heart. 

Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them.  Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot.
Psalms 73:6-7 (NASB)

And remember – Jesus wins,
Tim

     Digging Deeper – We serve a creative God!  If you don’t believe it, just look around you at all the wonders of creation.  Look in the mirror and see how uniquely you are made.  God can imagine all things and He used incredible creativity in the world.  Since we are created in His image, He gave us this wonderful ability to imagine also.  We can use it to glorify Him and others if we use it humbly.
     Pride, though, is something that only serves itself.  When pride gets a hold of our imagination, we no longer use it to find ways to glorify God, but only ourselves.  Pride goes straight to the center of our person – our heart.  It turns the efforts and affections of our hearts to self instead of God and others.  We start to imagine all kinds of things we should not.
     First, our heart will imagine we are more than we really are.  This is when the imagination makes more of what our eyes see than is really there.  This is the part that tells us the lie is true and inflates all of our thinking.  We imagine ways we can become more and more important and powerful.  Our heart begins to think only of us and nothing else.
     The imagination of the heart also begins to get carried away with thoughts of other people.  It goes from seeing them as co-laborers and begins to see them as enemies.  We imagine more and more evidence to discredit and distrust them.  Pride likes to work alone and is distrustful of everyone.  It only wants to use others and not share with them the joy of accomplishment.  It imagines everyone is trying to steal our glory and isolates us.
     Finally, pride will cause our heart to imagine we deserve the indulgences of sin.  You think about the last time you really sinned badly and you will find pride at the root of your actions.  Pride tells us we deserve the empty pleasure of sin.  In fact, scripture tells us that pride and lust are at the root of all sin.  It is bad enough when we get caught in the sin we can see, but pride makes us imagine new and perverse ways to sin.
     The best way to protect your heart’s imagination from this is to be sure you are walking humbly before the Lord.  Do not give into pride and learn to see its warning signs.  Look to bring glory to God first and He will lift you up in His time.  Don’t listen to the deception of pride that no one appreciates you because God does.  Don’t allow pride to make you distrustful of others.  Be their humble servant.  Don’t ever listen to pride when it tells you how much you deserve to sin.  Cry out to God and ask Him to make your imagination subject to Him.  It is a wonderful gift when given to God’s service.
     Blessings, and thanks for digging deeper with me!

     Quick Take – There is a lot of noise in our world today.  Much of it has to be filtered out so we can focus on our work.  Some has to be filtered because it is inappropriate for us to hear.  Sometimes, we also filter out things that we should be listening to.  This can happen because of pride.  Be sure that you are not too proud to listen to other people.  You will have a lot of the answers as a leader but not all of them.  Jesus was the Son of God, and yet, He would listen to anyone.  You have no idea what you will learn about situations and people if you will just listen.  The words may sound like criticism, but be humble enough to hear it.

A wise son accepts his father's discipline, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
Prov. 13:1 (NASB)

And remember – Jesus wins,
Tim

     Digging Deeper – I remember a sign I once saw that said “in every bushel basket of criticism there is at least one kernel of truth”.  Sometimes we have to really listen hard to find it, but it is there.  It can be in a look or a gesture, but people are always trying to communicate to us how they feel about things.
     Listening to a rebuke, a concern, or someone just sharing their life takes effort.  We have to get all the noises out of our head and listen to them.  It takes focus and attention.  We have to change the focus and attention from ourselves and place it on them.  Every time we fail to do this we are saying that our life or opinion is more important or valid than theirs.  This is nothing more than pride.
     Sometimes we do not hear people because we are too busy.  This is a form of pride that says our time is better spent taking care of things rather than listening to people.  Our time is no more valuable than the next person’s.  We have to be humble enough to slow down so we can hear what people are saying.  Often, we do this to our families.  We are so consumed with “our” work that we do not hear what they are saying.  Stories about school and friends are not important enough to listen to.  Doing that to our family is prideful.
       There is a world of people out there who need someone to listen to them.  You have to be careful that your pride does not close your ears.  Only you can keep a proper perspective about what is most important.  We hardly have the time to listen to people we know much less strangers.  Our ears get full of our own voice and our own life and we do not leave room for others.
     Today, I want to challenge you to understand the hearing problem as an issue of pride.  When someone starts to say something to you at work or at home, put in the hearing aid of humility.  Let them and their story be the most important things at that moment.  Listen very carefully and don’t be selfish and think about yourself.  And when they are done, thank them for sharing with you because they just helped you make a pride check based on how well you listened.
Blessings, and thanks for digging deeper with me!

Played: 5 | Download | Duration: 00:37:58

     Quick Take – Pride can be a cruel master who builds our ego while stealing our life and relationships.  Pride is not something you wake up with one day.  Like any cancer, it starts small and unnoticeable.  The more it grows the faster it takes over more areas of our life until we are consumed with it.  Just like cancer, pride can never be totally eradicated from the flesh, just controlled.  You have to look for the warning sign of its growth so you can catch it early.  The first thing it attacks is your eyes.  You begin to look at yourself and others differently.  You seem to appear much bigger than you really are and others appear much smaller.  This vision impairment causes you to step on people and hurt them.  Your prideful eyes tell you it is unavoidable because you are so big and they are so little, but it is really the cancer of pride.  Get your eyes checked regularly by someone who will honestly tell you how big you are.

Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.
Prov. 16:18 (NASB)

And remember – Jesus wins,
Tim

     Digging Deeper – So how can we know if what our eyes are telling us is wrong?  The best way is to listen to your words.  Your words will tell you what your eyes are seeing in no uncertain terms.  The first sign is that you start saying things to yourself about other people and how small they are getting.  You make comments that demean them in stature and value.  You progressively use stronger and stronger words to describe how small they are getting.
     As this condition progresses, you will notice that most of the size and value comments you make about other people use you as the standard against which they are measured.  The references may not be direct, but behind every statement you will find yourself as the measuring rod of comparison.  Also, you will notice every time you measure someone else they will get smaller and you will get bigger.
     When this condition reaches critical mass, you will no longer keep these words to yourself, but you will begin to say them out loud.  Your eyes will tell you that the others have grown so small that you are obligated to help the little people by telling them how small they are.  You compare them to your great stature and encourage them to be more like you if they want to get big.
     What you have forgotten is that the problem is not their size or yours because you are both still the same size.  It is only a distortion in your eyesight which makes you appear bigger. You are shouting down to people who are right in front of you.  Ironically, after awhile, you are the one who begins to get smaller and smaller until you just become petty.  You will demean and shame someone over the smallest thing.  Your eyes are now filled with only a vision of yourself and you can no longer see anyone else.  You go through life trampling everyone who gets in your way.
      When pride has reached the place that your eyesight is completely obscured, it is hard to get it back.  It takes a lot of work and time because we have come to view the perspective of pride as reality.  Many people who get to this stage cannot ever find their way back because they have become totally dependent on the pride to see everything.
     Don’t ever get to this point in your life.  The very next time you see someone smaller than yourself and start to say something unkind in your heart, stop and confess it for what it is; a sin.  Ask God to control the cancer of pride in your life and seek someone out who will help you see yourself in a proper perspective.  Let God keep you cancer free from pride.
Blessings, and thanks for digging deeper with me!

Played: 8 | Download | Duration: 00:28:04

     Quick Take - Many people in the world struggle with sharing.  They do not like it when others ask them to share their time or money.  The reason for this is that we all want more.  Enough is never enough. Proverbs 13:25 tells us that the righteous have enough to satisfy their appetites.  In contrast, the world never seems to have enough.  Believers must ask themselves how much is enough?  This greed for more will make us selfish people who cannot afford to spend time with those we love or money on those in need.  If we cannot be grateful for what we have, then we will not share with others.  How grateful are you today?  Do you have enough to take time to share?

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 1:27 (NASB)

And remember – Jesus wins,
Tim

     Digging Deeper – Yesterday was our monthly “go to town and take care of errands” day.  One of the things we had to do was get groceries.  Talk about sticker shock!  We eat less than we ever have and it costs more.  I almost fell over when they tallied the bill in Sam’s.  A couple of days ago I went to the store and got two bags of apples, one small bag of oranges, and a pineapple and the bill was $32.  Then before I came home I had to get some fuel for my pickup and lawn mowers.  That was over $70.
     The tendency is to start griping about how much things cost.  Many of us get grumpy when prices get so high.  As Pam and I were closing our day in prayer, I thought about how much everything cost us lately and how it is impacting our budget.  There was a time when I would have asked God to provide better for us or make prices go down.
     Last night as I prayed, I thank God that we live in a country where we can buy beautiful fresh fruit and all kinds of food.  I am amazed that we can walk into all the stores we want and the shelves are full of food and anything else we want to buy.  There are places in this world where people could not buy food even if they had the money.  We forget how blessed we are in this country.  And the gas prices?  Well, it hurts because we all have two or three cars to keep gas in so we can drive anywhere we want to go.  We are blessed in this country beyond imagination. 
     Our time is no different from our money.  We work all we want and sometimes more than we should.  Do you know how many places in this world have double digit unemployment?  When we get off work there is no shortage of things we can do to entertain ourselves in town.  Or, we can go home and have access to more TV channels than we could ever watch.  We can get our kids involved in something every day of the week.  We are gluttons for excitement and activities and then complain we have no time. 
     With all these blessings, which we indulge in till they become burdens, we are very selfish sometimes.  We do not share because we are not grateful for what we have and are constantly craving more.  The blessings and opportunities in our country can become a curse when all we want is more of it.  That is why our financial industry is in such trouble today; everyone was greedy for more loans, bigger houses, and better returns on their investments.  Enough is never enough.
     Leader, what are you grateful for?  Is your appetite satisfied or do you have to keep going for more.  As long as you are trying to get more you will never have time to stop and share with someone else.  You won’t be able to share your money with the needy or your time with your family.  Start saying “no” to your appetites and thanking God for all you have.  Then, and only then, will you really be able to enjoy the blessings you have by seeing how they can bless other’s lives.
Blessings, and thanks for digging deeper with me!

     Quick Take – We need to be careful when we give.  The purpose of giving is to glorify God, but sometimes we allow the praise to come to us.  It is tempting to let the thanks and praise from the recipient fall on us, and we gladly accept it.  Rarely do we reject the praise and inform them that it really belongs to God.  The next time you share with someone, try not to get caught doing it; and if you do get caught, be sure they know that it was not your blessing upon them, but God’s blessing through you to them.  Be sure the thanks for the sharing gets back to the Person Who really made it possible.  Let people know when you share something that you are only a vessel and not the origin of the gift.

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.
But I have received everything in full and have an abundance;  I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.   Phil 4:17-18 (NASB)

And remember – Jesus wins,

     Digging Deeper – We have so much fun sharing with others that sometimes we forget how it all happens.  It is OK to enjoy the act, but not if it takes away from glorifying God.  Paul reminded the Philippians that their gift was an offering to God.  It was not directed to Paul, but was part of their service to bring glory to God.
     We often forget this principle.  We not only forget the ability to give comes from God, but we forget that the gift is an offering to Him.  It is not an offering of penance or for earning favor; rather it is an offering of praise.  It is a way we make a sacrifice, not for sin, but for praise to Him.  We actually are performing worship when we share with others as long as we see it as done unto the Lord.
     When we think about giving in this way, it should create a whole new attitude for us.  We are no longer looking for thanks or praise from men, but we are seeing our worship in practice.   Praise is not just something we do in church, but it is something we should do with our resources.
     After all, all of the resources you have came from God.  Your income is from God.  He could have just as easily chosen you to be a homeless person as an executive.  Oh, you think it is because of all your hard work and dedication.  God could have given you a simple or mentally ill mind instead of the intelligent mind you now have.  God could have placed you in a country where there were no opportunities.  You are where you are and have what you have because of the grace of God, so praise Him with what He has given you.
     And if you are someone who has to receive a gift, remember that it is not about you.  God has chosen you to be a method by which someone can make a sacrifice of praise to Him by sharing with you.   Your life or circumstances are so that God can be worshipped.  Is it all bad if God allows your struggle to bring praise to Him?  Would it be so difficult to allow someone to share with you if you knew God was being glorified through it?
     The focus is to be on God and the glory due His name, not on you or me.  We need to start seeing giving and receiving as something intended to bring praise to God.  Don’t let this be about man.  Let it be about God and His gracious gifts to all of us.  Remember, He can give anything, to anyone, any way He wants to.  Thank Him for the part He allows you to have.
Blessings, and thanks for digging deeper with me!

     Quick Take- This week I have been talking to you about sharing with others and today’s lesson will be the hardest and strangest.  Most people have one really big obstacle to sharing with others, which is an inability to accept help themselves.  I know that seems strange, but it is true.  You cannot really know how to give to others until you learn how to receive from them.  So, today I want you to work very hard at letting people do things for you when they offer.  You practice being gracious and thankful for other’s help.  It will probably be uncomfortable because you are used to refusing help from someone else.  After all, you are the giver and not used to being the recipient.  Practice really hard today so you can know how it feels to receive.

for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Philippians 4:16

And remember – Jesus wins,
Tim

     Digging Deeper – It goes against human pride to accept help from other people.  Rather than feel needy, we like to feel powerful and strong by helping others.  They say it is more blessed to give than to receive and it is also easier.  We struggle with pride which causes us to want to be the giver rather than the taker.  So why can’t we just give all the time?  Why do we need to know how to receive?
     When Jesus was washing the disciples’ feet in Matthew 13, Peter refused, only to be reproved by the Lord.  Peter had to learn how to accept what Christ was offering.  It wasn’t so much an issue of pride as the absence of humility.  Peter had to learn how to receive this small service from the Lord in order to learn how to receive the greater service of salvation.
     None of us likes to feel needy.  None of us likes to feel we cannot take care of ourselves.  It becomes a matter of pride when we are strong and can help those who are weak.  We often cannot identify with those who are in need and cannot care for themselves.  If we cannot identify with them, then how will we ever know how to give to them?    
     We do things for and to other people based on our own perspectives.  If we like something, we assume others will too.  That is why if we buy something we enjoy, we will buy it as a gift for others.  We use our frame of reference in ministering to others.  When Christ came to this earth to die for us, He could have done it any way He wanted.  He chose to first identify with our need before He gave the gift of His life (Hebrews 4:15).
      If we really want to be effective and loving by sharing with others, then we need to allow them to share with us.  If we do not, the sharing we do can backfire and become a wall instead of a bridge.  If we do not allow people to give to us in kind, then they feel we are rejecting them.  We are refusing them a way of saying thank you.  Their gestures may be small like the story of the lion and the mouse (remember, the lion spared the little mouse who later chewed threw the bonds of the lion setting him free).  The disproportion cannot be considered, only the desire of someone else to do something nice for us.
     It can also backfire by making us seem out of reach for others.  If someone, even in our family, never can see themselves contributing to the relationship, then they no longer feel needed.  Many times husbands do this to their wives and parents do it to their children.  Everyone wants to feel needed and appreciated for what they can do.  While this can sometimes be prideful, most often it is just a matter of wanting to feel needed by others.  Even Jesus allowed the sinful woman to wash His feet (Luke 7:37-38).
     Today, learn to let others share with you.  Learn how to be thankful and gracious.  Learn what it feels like to need another person.  Learn more about giving than you have ever known, by learning how to receive.
     Blessings, and thanks for digging deeper!