Devotion for Saturday 12 June
Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 16 verse 18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall,” (NRSVB). One cannot quantify pride, as it is abstract and intangible. At a certain turning point, being proud of achievements, riches, heritage or background influences behavioural patterns that set such a high regard on the self and its achievements, that disregard and down-right contempt develop in the proud person’s dealings with others. Pride is identified as one of the seven vices, along with anger, envy, slothfullness, lust, greed and gluttony. Pride is destructive and leads to other behaviours that cannot be associated with healthy self-esteem, but rather with the puffing-up of the self, as the Apostle Paul describes. Haughtiness is a far cry from the call to humility and the serving attitude that Jesus asks from his followers. As Christians we are advised to boast only in Christ’s achievement of redemption for us on the Cross. We cannot save ourselves, we needed a Saviour. We have nothing that we have not received from the hand of our loving Father. Christ saved us and freed us from the need of being proud and haughty. He has given us a Spirit that identifies with the lowly and humble, for we identify within ourselves that “we are just beggars before our Lord,” in the words of Martin Luther.
Pride is a disease that rears its ugly head everywhere, even in religious settings and within the church. Jesus told the parable of the Pharisee who came in prayer to God. He exalted himself and thanked God that he was able to live up to such high religious standards. He thanked God in public prayer that he was so much better than the tax-collector who was standing praying next to him. The tax-collector was too saddened by his own condition to look up to heaven. He just whispered to God as his kept striking his chest, “Have mercy on me, a wicked sinner!” Jesus said to his listeners, “I tell you, this tax-collector went down to his home justified, rather than the Pharisee; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted, ” Luke 18 verse 14, (Amplified Bible).
This world rewards the proud and the haughty with a great following and a platform to display their knowledge and plans, their achievements, riches and earthly adoration. People try to emulate their ways. They hope to achieve fame and fortune and follow their hero’s lead without having regard for those who are hurt and destroyed in the wake of their epic rise. Their eloquent speeches centre around their power to achieve and sustain their empires, without the help of God or men. They need no help, for in their sight, they are infallible. We read of the down-fall of kings and captains, priests and prophets, who have denied God’s omnipotence and all-knowing wisdom, from the Pharaoh of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod and Nero, to name but a few of these proud rulers reigning in the Ancient Near East.
Proud people stand in judgment of others. Being judged can leave one to feel vulnerable, helpless and hopeless, despite the great effort and work that have been undertaken in order to succeed in a noble cause. Jesus teaches in Luke 6 verse 41, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own, ” (NRSVB). Jesus’ standard of humility and servanthood, the antithesis of being proud and haughty, is summed up in his teaching in Luke 6 verse 27 to 31: “Love your enemies, treat well those who detest you and pursue you with hatred. Invoke blessings upon and pray for those who curse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other cheek also. Give away to everyone who begs of you. And as you would like and desire that men would do to you, do exactly so to them,” (Amplified Bible).
We do not have to feel diminished by the treatment and contempt that are dished out by the proud and haughty, those who are captains of their own ships, and disregarding God, the Giver of all Good Things. We have received our worth, not through our own endeavours. We have all been created in the image of God, and have his breath in us. Through the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross for us, and the grace and faith the we receive from our Father, we can stand humbly before our Lord and trust him, for we know is the beginning and end of all the Ages. He is the one who will call us from our humble back seat to a place of honour at his table.
Father, we thank you that you call on your humble servants and perfect their work. You give them your approval: Well done, good and faithful servant. Help us not to become discourage by those who haughtily deny you and your work on earth and in heaven, Amen.
