Quick Take - People think they can keep playing games with faith.  Arrogance makes us think we can skirt the issue of giving up our life in faith.  We are arrogant about what we can do, our need for God, and how much time we have to make a decision about Christ.  It does not matter if we are dealing with salvation or Lordship; arrogance gets in the way of us surrendering our life to Christ.
 
A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, But a fool is arrogant and careless.   Prov 14:16 (NASB)

     Digging Deeper – Arrogance is a master of disguise.  It can masquerade as the most noble of looking things.  It can look like responsibility and self reliance.  It can look like diligence and hard work.  It can even fool us by looking like a strong sense of direction or keen ability to make up one’s mind.  All of these traits can be admired by others and, yet, be little more than arrogance.
     We tend to admire the strong and independent person in this world.  We like a take charge attitude and encourage it in others.  God, on the other hand, likes someone who is pliable and teachable.  He wants us to be men and women who are willing to surrender our will and have a humble attitude, which is the exact opposite of arrogance.  Everything the world admires is usually in opposition to what God wants to develop in us.
     Today, I want to encourage you to take the masks off of your actions and attitudes.  See if there is something masquerading underneath the things the world admires.  Don’t let self use the admiration of others to fool you. Learn to see arrogance in all its various forms and shapes.  Root it out of your life because God tells us that it will lead to carelessness.  You will become careless in your devotion, your commitment, and your faithfulness to God.  Fight back and seek the things God wants you to have first in your life.
Blessings, and have a great day!
Tim

p.s. I won’t be posting a sermon Mp3 this week due to a technical issue.  Basically, Windows Vista ate it.