Wisdom for your ego

Pride is a principal evil in human nature. It led Eve and Adam to sin in the Garden of Eden. It leads us to sin today. Haughty eyes (a proud look) is first on the list of things God hates (Proverbs 6:19-19.)

We have all seen the “proud look.” The popular athlete looking down at the kid in the band; the rich looking down on the poor; the attractive looking down on the plain. The pride of the heart is evident in the eyes. The prideful look is a look of contempt.

Pride reveals itself in other ways, too. In such actions as rudeness, disrespect, and impatience. The prideful care more about what others think than about being a better person and become defensive when their self-image is challenged. They fail to see their own faults, looking, instead, at others’ faults so they can feel better about themselves. Jesus asked, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

The prideful tend to look after their own needs at the expense of the weak, unattractive, or just plain in the way. The Bible teaches, “Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” (Philippians 2:4)

Pride separates us from God's power who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5.) Humility is the cure for pride. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:10)

Jesus set the example. “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8)

How to Avoid the Traps of Success Part 2: The Entitlement Trap

Judges 8:22-35

Our response to success can impact our future blessings. After refusing to be the king, Gideon decided he was entitled to a reward. He said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (Judges 8:24)

It was the least they could do to honor their hero. He had risked everything in his defeat of the enemy and was entitled.

It is not unusual for a person to benefit from their success – a parking spot near the door, a corner office, first class travel – one is entitled to such perks.

However, sometimes the perks that come with success can send the wrong message. The former head of a missions group refused to enter a limo that had been sent to pick him up at the airport. “The people who give sacrificially to support missions may get the wrong impression,” he said.

The head of another missions agency got into hot water over the price of his office furniture.

Gideon gave glory to God but this desire for a big payday was a step in the wrong direction.

John Delorean was the automotive genius responsible for the Firebird, the GTO and the Grand Prix. He capitalized on his fame and talent to start Delorean Motor Cars but went bankrupt. He thought he could apply his superior business skills to traffic drugs but wound up buying drugs from undercover cops. A sense of entitlement doesn't always land you in jail but it does cause people to believe that they are above the law; or at least believe that the rules don't apply to them.

David thought he was entitled to Bathsheba. Bill Clinton thought he was entitled to Monica Lewinski. The poor feel entitled to what the rich have and the rich feel entitled to the poor.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10

Part 1 – The Celebrity Trap

Part 3 - The Recognition Trap

Calling Shotgun

Mark 10:35-45

When I was a kid we all wanted to sit in the front seat. We would call “shotgun!” and argue about who called it first. “I called it!”

“No, I did!”

“I called it yesterday!”

“Well, I called it for the week!”

We would all fight for the seat of honor. Nobody liked taking the backseat.

James and John ask Jesus to give them positions of prestige and power: “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” (Mark 10:37)

Jesus declared that service would be the measure of Christian leadership: “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." (Mark 10:43-44)

A servant leader follows the example of Jesus: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve...” (Mark 10:45)

Jesus knew that he had all the power of the universe in his hands, but he did not use it to control his disciples. He got up and washed their feet.

In the kingdom of God, greatness is not about moving on up. It’s about transformation. As we become more like Jesus, we will develop a Christ-like sensitivity toward others.

Selfish ambition leads to conflict and has no place in God's Kingdom.

Pride goes before destruction,

a haughty spirit before a fall

Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)

Getting Small

Mark 9:30-37

We need humility to achieve greatness in God's eyes. To be bigger, we have to get smaller.

In his book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum wrote, “Wisdom comes not from graduate school but in the nursery school sandbox. These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. When you go out into the world watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.”

Fulghum is not far from the teaching of Jesus that we must become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 18:3)

Nowhere in the Bible do you see the Apostles asking each other, “How are you? Can I get you anything?

Instead, we see them pushing people away as when they were bringing children to Jesus or keeping those outside their group were ministering in Jesus' name. Now there is conflict about who among them is the greatest. (Mark 9:33-34)

For many the idea of greatness comes from position, prestige, and power. Like children who race and push each other to get a better position in line, the Apostles are arguing about how they should be lining up.

Jesus straightens out their thinking by saying, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.’” (Mark 9:35)

While they're trying to figure out what that means, Jesus scoops up a toddler and makes a connection between the one who receives this child in His name, and the one who receives Christ Himself and God His Father.

The greatest are those small enough to serve people forgotten by others. Those who befriend the person nobody likes. The ones who give to those who cannot give back.