How Dare You?

The longer I live on this planet, the more convinced I am that spiritual pride is one of the most prevalent sins.  It occurs in churches, among leaders, in the workplace, and in the home.  No venue is exempt from it.  I have often heard the following phrase applied when discussing our current culture of political correctness: 'I'm offended that you're offended.'  It's a snarky way of throwing whatever issue may be at hand back at the person who feels slighted.  A good portion of people even wanted to change the name of the coronavirus because they thought it was too politically incorrect.  Most simply refer to it as COVID-19 now anyway. 

One symptom for this type of pride often comes in the form of what I like to call the "How Dare You" syndrome.  For example, if someone of a humble nature gets corrected by someone else, they may take a while to mull it over and think about it.  Maybe they did do something wrong.  But someone a bit more prideful might react to the same admonishment by saying (or thinking) how dare you correct me?  How dare you disagree with me?  I'm offended now, so I will walk away angry and defensive.  

Think back honestly for a moment.  How many arguments have started this way?  How many family members or acquaintances hold grudges for years and years because something similar happened?  Maybe it was an insult at a family reunion, or perhaps someone spoke out of turn one day during a phone call.  Whatever the specifics, you get the idea.  And these situations can pop up at work just as easily.  I once remember a situation where two people refused to speak directly with each other, so the other employees had to deliver hand-written notes back and forth between them.  This is a true story!

We recall the awkward prayer of the Pharisee (religious leader) from Luke 18:11 that deals with pride.  Scripture says, "The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector.'"

Keep in mind that tax collectors were frowned upon during Jesus' day, even more so than the IRS today.  Essentially, this person who was supposed to be a spiritual teacher and leader on behalf of God, saw himself as better than other people.  He was thanking God that he wasn't lowly like those 'other sinners.' 

This sounds silly when we point it out, and surely we realize that the Pharisee was really the one sinning in that story.  But this same prideful mindset is alive and well today; people just tend to hide it a little better.  

And when we discuss things like spiritual pride, we eventually come to the paradox as it pertains to this next symptom.  Proud people will not only become offended easily, but they will also often indulge in the fallacy that they are right, while everyone else is wrong.  Sometimes we may very well be correct of course, but there is a way to state this ... and a way not to state it.   Two deacons yelling at each other in the lobby of a church on Sunday morning would not be a good idea, for example.  People witness this, and then the damage is done.  It doesn't matter who is right or wrong in that context, both people look bad.  

"'How dare you," we might hear one of them say.  "You have offended me for the last time" the other person may retort.  All of us have witnessed something like this in the past I suspect. 

Now mind you, this becomes dangerously close to harboring unforgiveness.  Or at the very least, a lack of ability to experience empathy for the other person's position.  It's much easier to simply become offended.

Instead, listen to what 1 Peter 5:5 has to say, "... all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'"


Apparently God isn't fond of spiritual pride either. 

How much happier is the life of someone who listens first, and speaks last.  I have found that people who are humble will often remain quiet for some time in fact, at least until the chatter dies down a bit.  But it doesn't mean they aren't mulling things over, or that they don't care about whatever topic is being discussed.  They just choose to go through life differently, in a way that never seeks to destroy or berate another person.  Their feathers don't seem to ruffle as easily. 

But real life often sneaks in, doesn't it?  Sometimes we lose our cool.  Some of us are simply created to blow our stack right away, and we become calm only afterward.  If we do come out of the gate swinging, we must remember that an apology may be necessary later.  If we start off with 'how dare you,' we can still finish up with 'OK, I see your point.'  It just takes more effort sometimes.  Try to place yourself in the other person's shoes prior to responding with hostility. 

Let's all try to leave the realm of spiritual pride to the Pharisees.  Remember Jesus described them as whitewashed tombs.  I would rather throw in with the humble crowd instead.  I find myself needing to apologize much less often that way.  



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The Gospel Effect

The Gospel message about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is just as important now as it was two-thousand years ago.  During this time of uncertainty in the world, I have learned a couple things.  First, people need each other.  No matter how technologically advanced we get, we still have a deep desire to be in relation with others.  I have also noticed that trials and difficult times really do build character, and can also be redeemed by God for our spiritual growth.  Keeping both of these things in mind, the idea of the 'Gospel Effect' (the notion of the work that Jesus does in our hearts and minds) has become paramount.  

When I was younger, I worked countless part time jobs.  I started working in a grocery store when I was fourteen, and I've been working ever since.  As such, I've had the opportunity to work with a variety of people and personality types over the years.  I will never forget one young man in particular (we will call him Bill).  Bill and I worked together at a video store.  Week after week, we shared time in the trenches together, helping hundreds of people rent movies (you wouldn't believe how crowded those little stores would get on the weekends).  I remember him as being very secular-minded, and constantly on the go.  No time for church, rather, it was on to this tournament or that event.  Always busy, always moving.

I had lost track of Bill over the years, until one day I saw him at a local supermarket buying groceries.  We were both adults at this point.  We were a little older, and a little wiser maybe?  We talked for about half an hour.  He spoke about teaching an Alpha class, which is a series of Christian seminars typically hosted by churches.  Bill spoke also about the love of Jesus Christ, and the effect it had on him.  I could hardly believe my ears.  Not because he wasn't worthy of a Godly life, but rather, it was the night and day difference.  If you had placed the Bill of today in a room with the Bill of twenty years ago ... there would be two very different portraits.  The Gospel had changed him.  God had redeemed his soul and transformed his heart.

I want to talk about a particular story relating to transformed hearts.  It is often known as the Parable of the Leaven.  This teaching from Jesus occurs both in the book of Matthew and the book of Luke.  It is very short, but as you can probably guess, also very profound.  Matthew 13:33 says, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough."

From this little story, I believe we can take away two points in particular.  First, much like leaven (or yeast), the kingdom of heaven can take some time to develop and mature.  We ought not apply today's fast paced, technology driven lifestyle to the Gospel Effect.  Not always anyhow.  When the Spirit of God begins a work in us, it often starts slowly and might be barely noticeable to the individual.  Maybe my friend Bill was aware of how God was changing his heart over time, but maybe not.  Most certainly his wife noticed, not to mention the change I saw in him that day at the store.  

Second, I believe we can take from this teaching that the kingdom of heaven starts from the 'inside' and works its way outward.  Like leaven that permeates through the entire package of dough, Jesus begins working inside of a person's heart and mind.  The changes are often not obvious from other people's perspective, until the overflow of God's love begins to come out of that individual through the words they speak and the things they do.  At the end of that twenty year time period, Bill's born again heart was very prevalent to me.  God had started a work in him years ago, and now he was teaching the Christian classes himself!  Leaven may start small, but the end result is irrefutable.  

We are sometimes impatient with God, aren't we?  Instead of waiting for the dough to rise, we might decide that a trip to the fast food restaurant is a better idea.  We drive past the window, hand our money to the employee, and off we go with a bag full of junk food.  Quick, easy, and also not very good for us.  

By contrast, if we wait on God and allow the leaven time to work through the dough, the end result is impressive (and much better for us than fast food).  It goes without saying then, that God probably has to wait on us a good portion of the time.  The Bible says He is infinitely patient with Israel, and with us also.  And if we stop to think about things for just a millisecond, we can see how true this is.  How many times have you and I failed to meet God's holy law?  More than a few times I would think.  If you disagree, stop reading this immediately and turn to the ten commandments in the Old Testament.  Go down the list with each one, and apply it to your own life.  Humbling, isn't it?

Little doubt that God is the very embodiment of patience and love.  I often see this truth wherever I look ... even during a global pandemic.  My advice is this: allow God's Holy Spirit to make little in-roads into your life.  Give this Gospel Effect time to take hold, and work in you from the inside out.  Who cares if other people around you notice this change immediately or not.  Your sanctification walk is between you and the Creator.  Revel in that intimate time together with God; Jesus died on the cross so that you could have it.  Don't waste it.

Sooner or later, those around you will notice the end result.  You will have your own supermarket meeting epiphany, just like Bill and I.  



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Stay Humble, Stay Happy

There are so many profound parables at our disposal in the Bible.  It is quite literally, an embarrassment of riches.  They represent opportunities for people to read what the Son of God has to say about how Heaven operates.  If the majority of the world knew how much of a gift this is, Scripture would be quoted on the nightly news every day.  It is nothing short of God offering you and I the ability to know and understand what it's like to be in His presence.  He certainly didn't have to do this for us; He doesn't owe us anything.  But as an act of love, Jesus illustrated the Kingdom of Heaven to his followers, and then even took the time to explain what he meant when he was done.  Astonishing, isn't it?  So much grace, freely given. 

Luke 14 contains what some call the Parable of the Invited Guest.  It describes a wedding feast where a guest shows up and considers taking the place of honor, which according to Jewish custom, was right next to the host.  The dinner table would often resemble the shape of a "U", with the host sitting at the head.  On either side of the host then, would sit important people of high status - perhaps Pharisees or noblemen.  Jesus warns us, however, that we should not seek to seat ourselves at the head of the table in the high place necessarily.   

Luke 14:8-9 says, "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.  If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this person your seat.'  Then humiliated, you will have to take the least important place."

Now this idea is counter cultural if we stop to think about it.  So often today, people get ahead by seizing power and then cultivating it selfishly.  On a large scale, consider the garden variety despotic ruler who sets himself up as president or chancellor of a country by force.  Does he not sometimes kill whoever gets in his way?  Or more closer to home, what about that annoying person you work with at the office, who plans and schemes their way up the status ladder?  

The issue comes into play when we realize that the Kingdom of Heaven doesn't work this way.  It would seem that Jesus is telling us that God assigns the glory, we cannot take it ourselves.  Now this message would have seemed odd to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other religious leaders of the time.  They went to school, studied with masters, and put all their stock and faith in their own accomplishments.  Essentially, they 'bought' their way to the top. 

You will note here that I am not marginalizing working hard and earning a degree.  This is a good thing.  But when you attach your own self-righteous brand of pride and status to your station in life, then we have a problem.  Jesus says instead of assuming that we should take the seat of honor, why not see how it plays out, and allow the host to apply grace as he or she sees fit?  We receive grace, we don't take it.  Doubtless you can see how this parable may also serve as a metaphor for Heaven.  In the Bible, the wedding feast is often symbolic of God's gathering of believers.  The Lord is the host of the party, and He reserves the right (as sovereign king) to ask anyone to sit wherever He wants.  Better if we don't presume ourselves - through a prideful attitude - to be more important than we are.  Much safer to be humble I would think. 

The other thing that happens when we head directly toward the seat of honor, is that we can fall into the trap of believing our own hype.  It's an idolatry thing ... an issue of self-worship.  The 'look at me' mindset seeks to compare ourselves to other people, usually casting ourselves in a more positive light than reality would dictate.  If we see someone else get a pay raise in our office, then we assume we should get one also.  We deserve it more than so-and-so, right?  If we spend time comparing our situation to others, we typically end up miserable.  More often than not, what God has in store for so-and-so wouldn't work for you anyway.  You do your thing, and let them do theirs.  We receive what God gifts to us, and we don't complain. 

As I said before, the Kingdom of Heaven operates differently than life on planet Earth.  Look at Luke 14:11: "For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all those who humble themselves will be exalted."

So what if you are a religious leader, a statesman, or something similar?  Go for the lower position at the wedding table.  Who cares if another person takes the top seat next to the host.  There is an excellent chance that even if the host doesn't ask him to move, he might be thinking it.  How wonderful it is, by contrast, if the head of the household makes his way over to you and invites you to sit right next to him.  The parable tells us that we will then 'be honored in the presence of all the other guests.'  Again, we gladly accept God's grace, we shouldn't try to force His hand.  

And when God promotes you, don't become arrogant.  Don't flaunt it to those around you, as it can be taken away in a heartbeat.  Instead, revel in the fact that you are walking your own faith walk, in obedience to God the Father, in a humble and contrite way.  It's much harder to start a fight with someone who isn't looking for trouble in the first place. 

If we let faith direct our steps, then there is no place for spiritual pride.  We haven't seized power by trampling on others, but rather, we were asked to come forward to sit at the high place during the banquet by the host himself.  Stay humble, and stay happy.  To be prideful and status hungry will usually leave you hurt and embarrassed at some point, not to mention how uncomfortable it is for the other guests at the feast as well.



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Fearful, Faithful, or Both?

Why bother to read another article about pandemic fear?  Because I think this topic is important enough to be revisited.  People in our country are scared.  We hear conflicting stories sometimes from national news sources, in addition to worrisome personal accounts where something went wrong after someone contracted the COVID-19 virus.  We are worried about ourselves, our families, and our relatives.  Seasonal allergies are picking up this time of year also.  We may wonder to ourselves, "Is this cough hay fever, or something else?"  Not to mention what other people do when they see someone sneezing or coughing  in public. 

When we address the topic of fear in the Bible, a good place to start is the book of Judges.  In fact, Judges chapter 6 recounts the story of a man named Gideon.  When we are first introduced to him, we are told that the Israelites were being bullied and dominated by a large and powerful army known as the Midianites.  Every harvest season, this army would march across the countryside and plunder the crops from Gideon and the others.  Because this sacred group of God's chosen people had turned to worshiping false gods and false idols, the true God allowed this pillaging to occur.  

The Israelites had taken to hiding out in caves in nearby mountain cliffs.  They would take as much of their own harvest as quickly as they could, and then retreat to safety while the Midianite army arrived and took the rest for themselves.  What a miserable existence it must have been.  But it sounds a lot like what is occurring today in the year 2020.  As our world is being overrun with a strange, new virus ... do we not often find ourselves 'hiding in caves' in an attempt to wait it out?

Truth be told, our government has mandated social distancing - and it is ultimately a wise decision I think.  But it also lends itself to an atmosphere of apprehension.  There is no Midianite army to run from this time, but a microbial illness instead.   It's like a pestilence straight out of the Old Testament.  The realities are the same:  we run to the grocery store and grab what we can, then retreat back to our homes and wait it out.  We may as well shut our windows while we are at it, just in case a swarm of locusts comes our way soon. 

God willing, this physical distancing will keep a good portion of our population healthy.  In the meantime, we are dealing with the psychological ramifications of prolonged fear and anxiety.  Gideon was fearful also, and the Bible says that God came to him as an angel of the Lord in order to convey a message about leadership.  Essentially, God told Gideon that he would be the one to lead a revolt against the Midianite army.  Gideon then put God to the test three times.  He wanted to make sure that the Lord was with him every step of the way, prior to taking any course of action.  After all, it was a scary mission.   

Judges 6:39 says, "Then Gideon said to God, 'Do not be angry with me.  Let me make just one more request.  Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.'"   God complies with this strange request, as well as all the others.  Gideon receives his validation. 

Now I wouldn't recommend putting God to the test, generally speaking.  Some prefer to pray for a sign or signal before they act on God's behalf.  For example, prior to accepting a new job, people might pray for God to show them some type of validation.  This can work, and many have had success with this type of thing; but ultimately it can be a mixed bag.  Much better, I think, to follow what the Bible says - no matter what signs or signals we may be seeing around us.  Although this formula isn't as dramatic as witnessing prayer requests come true, it is still the most reliable way to tell whether or not you are walking in obedience with God or not.  

It is okay to be fearful sometimes, but we must continue to press on anyway.  There is a time for hiding in caves and a time to come back out and reap the harvest.  And it just might happen, that occasionally God calls us to engage the Midianite army directly.  And if we are called to do this, may we have the strength to respond to the Bible quickly and with authority, as opposed to asking God for a sign.  Are we listening to God's voice and reading His Word, or are we looking to the media or the culture for guidance first?  Sometimes the distinction isn't so easy to see, especially when something scary is going on around us.  The mountain cave can look pretty inviting sometimes.  

I should mention here that Gideon does eventually go on to lead the Israelites and defeat the enemy.  Through an ingenious plan to distract them, the Israelites gain the upper hand and witness a spectacle as God protects them.  The enemy eventually turns on each other!  Judges 7:22 recounts, "When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords."  

Remarkable what happens when God shows up, isn't it?  Gideon was afraid, but he was faithful also.  One thing does not necessarily preclude the other, as long as we don't continue walking in fear forever.  At some point - hopefully soon - we will come out on the other side of this pandemic.  People will recover from the virus in many parts of the world (and they already are).  And when it is time to come out of our caves, we will go courageously and boldly, because we will trust that God lights the way. 

Stay safe, be wise, and when it is time to go back out into society, do so with courage and joy.




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