With watching two weeks of the Olympics, I have been thinking a bit about opposition. The essence of competition is defeating the opponent. The Olympic athletes practice hour after hour, day after day and year after year to ensure that no one will successfully oppose them.
The Bible speaks about opposition:
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."This has to be one of the scariest verses of the Bible.
Here is an understatement for you: You don't want God on the opposing team. You will lose. Is this not the testimony of the whole Bible? Cain, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Uzziah, the list goes on and on. God opposed them in their pride and it did not end well for them.
May this warning be enough for me today to forsake the pride that so easily wells up in my heart and pursue humility. If there is anything that I know I need, it's grace.
2 comments:
Come on now! Preach it!
This is one of my favorite stories illustrating the humility which is appropriate for us as Christians.
Carl F.H. Henry was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century. He wrote The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism, which had a huge impact at the time (and which still reverberates today), and the six-volume systematic theology opus, God, Revelation, and Authority. The man was incredibly gifted. C.J. Mahaney once asked him, "How do you keep a humble spirit, in light of all that you've accomplished?" Henry replied, "How can anyone be arrogant while standing next to the cross?"
May I continually stand next to the cross and despise, fight, and repent of my pride, by God's grace.
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