Romans 12:3-5 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
Healthy self-esteem is important! It keep us happy, healthy, and most of all allows us to encourage others. However, some of us overestimate ourselves and our popularity's permanence. This can lead to incredible disappointment when it is suddenly gone. But worst of all can make us think we are better than others.
Now this is in no way a cut at Morgan. If anything its the opposite. He absolutely did the right thing in the situation and severely paid an unfair price for his humility. "Letting Go" of pride can sometimes lead to unfair consequences, yet our treasure isn't here in this world, its in Heaven! But while we are here we have an incredible God who wants us to give up ourselves in order too allow more of him to take over.
Have you ever / Would you ever "Let Go" of your popularity to allow more of God in your life? What if it meant losing all of your "so called friends?" Are they really friends if they disagree with your character? Have you ever thought more of yourself than you should? Do you think you need a "Pride Punch?"
Read, digest, discuss ...
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ReplyDeleteI'm going to kind of take this week's theme of "Pride Punch" and pull it in a slightly different direction.
ReplyDeleteFor me, one of my biggest struggles as a single, mid-20's male who is out living on my own is finances...and I'm sure some of you college kids may be able to relate.
Instead of the typical "Pride Punch" that brings us back down to reality, I find myself craving/needing/seeking more "Pride Punches" that let me know that things are ok, and that I truly am blessed. "Pride Punches" that take my head out of the clouds and reassure me that I am where I'm at in life for a reason.
I currently have a roommate who....well, he's pretty well off right now financially and he is not afraid to let me know about it. Anyways, I've always been the type of guy who is happy and grateful for what he has. I'll make the most of what I've been given...making the most of every dollar and every day.
However, when money begins to get tight for me and my roommate is still spending without a care in the world...I get upset, depressed and even jealous at times. Who wouldn't?
Having money is fun :)
I've been feeling the need for change in my life a lot lately, but I'm also constantly reminded that God has me where I am, for a reason. Just when I want to be someone else, in a different situation, God gives me that "Pride Punch" that knocks me back into my place. He reminds me that I am blessed, I am making the most of what he has given me and, most of all, I am living by example.
Would I enjoy knocking on my roommates door and rattling off this piece of scripture to him?
Without a doubt :)
However, it seems like I am constantly reminded to make the most of what I've been given...be thankful for what I have instead of wishing for things that I don't have.
God has his own way of "Pride Punching" everyone.
For some, it's a hard dose of reality.
For others, it's a pick-me-up of sorts.
Either way, God has odd ways of keeping his children humble. So, don't be afraid of what He can throw at you.
:)
Plus, I bet you can mooch every once and a while and that is always nice. Free food!
ReplyDeleteCOLLEGE.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that comes to mind when I hear that word is, "the best years of your life." While this should and could be true, I am here to say that if you dont step back and evaluate where you are at and what you are doing at any given moment in college, you will end up empty upon graduating.
This past April I finally graduated college after 5 strenuous but exciting years. At a big school, I was able to do more things than I could have imagined. I did the sporting events and the tailgates that went along with. I did the frat parties, house partys, bar crawls, etc. I passed my classes and got my degree. And least important but most impactful (is that even a word) I did the dating, single, dating, single single life. I had times when girls were only a phone call away and when various nights didnt seem right to come home and not have someone with me. In honesty, some of you are saying, "That seems great, no strings, no attachment, freedom", and at the time I felt the same way. But it was the girls, the parties, and dare I even say the classes that got me away from ME, and HIM.
Let me pump the breaks for a second and preface this by saying that I came into college a devout christian, through and through. I could hold my own in any debate on why christianity was the proper religion, the religion for me, against any agnostic or atheist. Up until my junior year of college I was attending a Sunday service regularly and involved in a men's small group. However, it was around that time when I slowly began to walk away from the presence of God. It was slow at first; not going to church as often, for instance. Then I began to really contemplate other religions vs. Christianity, and this is when my walk turned into a full out sprint. How could I call myself a christian and not be able to answer, "Why Christianity and not Buddhism or Islam or even Hinduism?" Over the next year and a half or so I did my own thing, had a lot of fun, but every so often I had that feeling of emptiness inside, like something was there but now its gone.
It was around a few months to go in my senior year that I took a "Pride Haymaker" to the face and heart. It was around that time that everything was going really well (except for school); girls, friends, partys, etc. I felt on top of the world. Yet the Big Guy Upstairs had a different idea for me. It was a Friday, Black Friday I like to call it. My life feel apart in a series of three events: 1. found out i might fail a class after pulling three all-nighters for it 2. was confronted by my ex-girlfriend and all her friends (separately) as to why I insisted on be "friends" with so many girls 3. my bank account was at $3.45 and I had not eaten a meal other than a cliff bar in three days.
I was failing a class because I was paying too much attention to life outside of class, I had the wrong type of girl problem, and I was poor due to my frivolous spending at partys and the bar. I was at my lowest of lows and didn't even realized it until others pointed it out. I felt empty, lost, terrified. Something needed to change, not today but yesterday. So, I did.
That series of "Pride Punches" opened my eyes and opened my heart. Before, I was blind to my "Pride" and ignorance of my own life. I needed to "Let Go" of my previous way to thinking, deciding right/wrong, and truly evaluate what was important. Thankfully others helped me to realize this and today I am constantly working to make the appropriate and right decisions when it comes to partying, girls and priorities in life. In doing so, I have started to fill up that empty void from before, yet it's far from full. I still struggle with my christian faith and of it vs other religions. I believe it will be a dominant issue in my life for some time, but I pray and hope that camp this year and whatever lyes ahead will help.
ReplyDeleteThere is a saying that they use on Friday Night Lights: Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose. I think we all can step back and see how this phrase can apply to our own lives. I know it does for me on EVERY level.
I can hear "explosions in the sky" playing now. Before everyone reads this ... download some explosions in the sky or find the pandora station and listen while reading Andrew's post! Andrew ... all I can say is "been there" [Dude hug]
ReplyDeleteHi old friends and brother :) Although I’m far away from home and Bay Shore, I want to digest and reflect with you on this walk through scripture via cyberspace. So many of the best moments of my life have happened at camp – know that I’m praying for each bunk bed and each tire swing, that God would live there and touch the souls that will sleep and swing there.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to be stretched. I think it’s important for us to be uncomfortable or uneasy at moments. I think sometimes we need to sacrifice who we are for who we will become. It’s only then that we truly grow. But my growth over the past couple years has been so convoluted to me. For the first time in my life, I’m not sure who my people are. (your people : noun(s), individuals that value your heart, your existence and your purpose in life; those that surround you and lift you up) At times, I felt lost in a void of noise and without a real community. It felt as though I didn’t belong. I was just getting through by saying, “This too shall pass.”
I’ve spent the majority of this past year living out of a backpack – working, traveling, giving all of my energy to other people. It’s been incredibly humbling in every way possible. I spent every weekend on the road on a bus or plane full of men, constantly trying just to hold my own. It was like I was in a watermelon seed spitting contest and there was no way I was going to beat these guys. And I hate losing. (I have no explanation for that...it’s just how I felt.) But I continued to tell myself that this is what you signed up for. You chose this experience. You chose to be the first here and will choose to be the last to leave. You chose to pursue a degree in sports, a field dominated by males.
This is something that I will continue to struggle with in the years ahead. I will question my heart while I (metaphorically) wash the feet of athletes. But it’ll never be about me. It’s all about Him.
I also chose Jesus. I choose everyday to let go and live. I get to make that choice because Jesus is one of my people.
Pride Punch: Check!
Do I think I need a "PRIDE PUNCH"? Well if I answered this question Tuesday before 8pm, I would have said no way, not me! But, God obviously thought otherwise--and He wasn’t able to get the job done with just 1 punch, but 2, 3, 4 punches. :) God definitely has a humor, and I think He was laughing at my ridiculously competitive nature the other night.
ReplyDeleteIf you are new to this camp, you have to watch the PRIDE PUNCH video link above before reading on.
To get to the chase...I, your Dean of Softball, was cheating in our coed-slow pitch softball game, by having a friend play who wasn’t on our team roster. If you’re caught doing this, you have to forfeit the game. I could have easily signed this friend up during the day and paid his way, but I thought, heck it’s just 1 game.
We just so happened to be playing the other undefeated team in the leauge and they too were short a guy, the only difference was--they were honest about missing a guy. Instead of being fair & honest or letting them play with 9, I made them take 1 out everytime this guy came up in line-up. Rules right!? :( How quickly I forgot that I was the one cheating!!
This team had a way of getting under my skin, they had been scouting us for a few weeks, and I had already passed judgement on them, especially their coach. So needless to say, I wanted to beat them BAD!
PRIDE PUNCH #1--I was greedy...stole an extra base, slide into 3rd and was tagged out by their coach (really of all people to get my out)! I have a deep, painful strawberry from the slide. Humbling.
PRIDE PUNCH #2--When their missing guy showed up they wanted him to hit, I challenged it for far too long. I thought they were cheating and hadn’t had this guy pay beforehand. (Oh sort of like what we were doing...come on Katie!) Well he struck out, but the girl (a girl we thought was a for sure out) after him-- hit a blooper in front of home plate, to score the run that gave them a lead of 10-9. :( Humbling.
PRIDE PUNCH #3--Last inning 2 outs, tying run is on 3rd just so happens to be our illegal friend playing, and of course I am up to bat. Having a hard time being patient, so I take the first pitch. Deep and hard to left field-girl catches it. GAME OVER. Humbling.
PRIDE PUNCH #4--In the parking lot, after the game...Dan says, “The right team won tonight!” I looked at him and thought--whose team are you playing for here...really?! I was angry at myself & angry with the other team. He then reminded me that WE were the ones playing unfair and cheating and that he wouldn’t have felt right if we won. It wasn’t until that moment I realized how much of an idiot I was and how I had just poorly represented my team and God.
Anger, dishonesty, attitude, judgement filled my being that night on the field. None of which are from God.
These few hours of softball & series of pride punches represents my entire last year. A year where I have thought too highly of myself and thought I was in the driver’s seat of life. It has taken many go-a-rounds with God, but He is getting me back to a place where I can take a deep breath and know He is in control. And He certainly is shaping me back into the woman He created me to be through His Word, conviction, & loved ones. A painful process.
1 Peter 1: 7 “These trials are only to test your faith to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise & glory & honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
Maybe the story seems a little silly to you, but it was another crucial scenario where God had to sit me down!
Hey! It is Brent Ferris!
ReplyDeleteI Peter 5:7 "Cast all of your anxiety on the Lord, for He cares for you".
When discussing pride punches, it is always best to do everything you can to live a life of humility, but alas, it seems a pride punch comes for even the most humble of men.
For me, I face a pride punch when I start to get into a mode of thinking that allows my anxieties to become bigger than my concept of God. My anxieties are real things, finances, hard conversations, difficult situations with friends, dealing with constructive criticism, dealing with differing opinions...etc. They are all real anxieties. But when I am in tune with the heartbeat laid out in Scripture, these anxieties seem like such small things. However, when I am on the other side of the coin, and I am not in tune with the Holy Spirit, like maybe I have not been praying to God, or getting in to the Bible to read about Him, or have been treating my family poorly or have been in a position where I have leveraged my gifts inappropriately; when I am not in tune with the Holy Spirit, my anxieties start to become bigger than my concept of God.
A question I find myself asking is this: what quantity of my skills does God need to take care of these issues. The answer is a resounding zero. He does not need my skills, but He would probably want my trust.
To a God that created the mountains in Colorado and the Lakes of Michigan... I think he can handle a few dollars or conversations. But I employe you to see for yourself.
How big is God to you?
Love the blog... Keep it up. :D
I go further in my blog about some of these concepts I am talking about. Check it out:
http://brentferris.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/why-doubt/