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"Humility is to make a right estimate of oneself." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
I read this quote and it made me feel really good. I'm not going to lower myself: I am really good at a lot of stuff. So when I read this, I thought "This is great! I'm not the best at some stuff, but I'm awesome at some other things. So long as I don't puff myself up and act like I am better than I really am (like some other people I know), then I will be good to go."
I must be mentally handicapped.
I've been given a big helping of humble pie (we say that like it is a bad thing) this week. I won't go into any details but everything I had pride in (not necessarily in excess, but things I liked about myself) got taken away or destroyed. I stumbled upon another quote, similar to the first. When I first read it I though "That is awful, this guy is taking credit for what Spurgeon said." As it turn out, Tryon Edwards is older than Spurgeon and said it first. But this is neither here nor there (ever wonder where those two places are?)
"True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit; it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us." - Tryon Edwards
So I looked at this and though "Wow... I'm an idiot. Why did I not realize this before?" So I thought about how God feels. This is when the thought "Oh crap..." came to mind.
One of the things that makes me most upset (as you can plainly see from my narrative on Tryon Edwards and Charles Spurgeon) is when someone takes credit for something that isn't their own. I think that what we hate about others is what we really hate about ourselves. Well, I have been taking credit for my accomplishments. That is the equivalent of a pen taking credit for writing the Declaration of Independence or a paintbrush for creating the Mona Lisa. Neither did anything with out the author and the artist. So then why am I so hasty for taking credit for the castle of accomplishments I've built. God built that castle using a tool: me. Not only was He the one who built it, He is the one who made the tool and the one who made the stuff that the tool was made out of. So then why am I, the paintbrush, taking credit for creating the painting. Why am I saying "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?
2,500 years ago, a ruler said these words. He took credit for the majesty of Babylon. They guy who actually built up Babylon was a little hacked at Nebuchadnezzar for stealing His thunder so everything was taken from Nebuchadnezzar and the king was completely humiliated. For seven years, he acted like an animal, running around the palace lawns eating grass. The only time this king understood was when everything was taken away from him and God took his glorious Babylon away from the arrogant king.
Last night, I went to sleep thinking "I am Job. I'm being tested to see if I'll stay true to God." There's another arrogant mistake on the part of Marcelo: you have to actually be somewhere to stay there.
After thinking about this, it makes me a little upset at preachers. They should know this stuff right? They don't preach Nebuchadnezzar, they preach Job. "If you're going through hardships, God will bring you through it. You just need to stay true to him." I'm not saying this isn't true in some cases, but I am willing to bet that in the majority of hardships, that isn't God's thought process.
Show me how many times in the Old Testament the Israelites decided to turn away from God and how many times He punished them, then brought them back to Him. Tell me how many times God took things away from Israel and said "I'm testing you. Beloved Israel, you just need to stay true to me on this and well all be happy." I can't think of one time that happened. Granted, I'm not a Biblical Scholar, but the closest thing I can come up with is that God was testing them as they walked out into the wilderness. But, seriously, I don't think it is much of a test of faith to follow a floating pillar of fire in the sky after someone tells you its God. Israel wasn't Job and neither are we. Every person on the face of this earth is Nebuchadnezzar. We are all building up our castles in the name of ourselves and when they come tumbling down, we say "It's okay. It's a test. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing (following God) and I'll get through it." That may be true, but I suggest that you take an honest look in the mirror and tell yourself that because you are probably doing something wrong.
We need to stop taking credit for things that are not our own to take credit for, and when things get tough, we need to quit being pious little pharisees who say "I'm being tempted" and start examining ourselves in the mirror and decide if we're doing something wrong and that someone is trying to get our attention.
I read this quote and it made me feel really good. I'm not going to lower myself: I am really good at a lot of stuff. So when I read this, I thought "This is great! I'm not the best at some stuff, but I'm awesome at some other things. So long as I don't puff myself up and act like I am better than I really am (like some other people I know), then I will be good to go."
I must be mentally handicapped.
I've been given a big helping of humble pie (we say that like it is a bad thing) this week. I won't go into any details but everything I had pride in (not necessarily in excess, but things I liked about myself) got taken away or destroyed. I stumbled upon another quote, similar to the first. When I first read it I though "That is awful, this guy is taking credit for what Spurgeon said." As it turn out, Tryon Edwards is older than Spurgeon and said it first. But this is neither here nor there (ever wonder where those two places are?)
"True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit; it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us." - Tryon Edwards
So I looked at this and though "Wow... I'm an idiot. Why did I not realize this before?" So I thought about how God feels. This is when the thought "Oh crap..." came to mind.
One of the things that makes me most upset (as you can plainly see from my narrative on Tryon Edwards and Charles Spurgeon) is when someone takes credit for something that isn't their own. I think that what we hate about others is what we really hate about ourselves. Well, I have been taking credit for my accomplishments. That is the equivalent of a pen taking credit for writing the Declaration of Independence or a paintbrush for creating the Mona Lisa. Neither did anything with out the author and the artist. So then why am I so hasty for taking credit for the castle of accomplishments I've built. God built that castle using a tool: me. Not only was He the one who built it, He is the one who made the tool and the one who made the stuff that the tool was made out of. So then why am I, the paintbrush, taking credit for creating the painting. Why am I saying "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?
2,500 years ago, a ruler said these words. He took credit for the majesty of Babylon. They guy who actually built up Babylon was a little hacked at Nebuchadnezzar for stealing His thunder so everything was taken from Nebuchadnezzar and the king was completely humiliated. For seven years, he acted like an animal, running around the palace lawns eating grass. The only time this king understood was when everything was taken away from him and God took his glorious Babylon away from the arrogant king.
Last night, I went to sleep thinking "I am Job. I'm being tested to see if I'll stay true to God." There's another arrogant mistake on the part of Marcelo: you have to actually be somewhere to stay there.
After thinking about this, it makes me a little upset at preachers. They should know this stuff right? They don't preach Nebuchadnezzar, they preach Job. "If you're going through hardships, God will bring you through it. You just need to stay true to him." I'm not saying this isn't true in some cases, but I am willing to bet that in the majority of hardships, that isn't God's thought process.
Show me how many times in the Old Testament the Israelites decided to turn away from God and how many times He punished them, then brought them back to Him. Tell me how many times God took things away from Israel and said "I'm testing you. Beloved Israel, you just need to stay true to me on this and well all be happy." I can't think of one time that happened. Granted, I'm not a Biblical Scholar, but the closest thing I can come up with is that God was testing them as they walked out into the wilderness. But, seriously, I don't think it is much of a test of faith to follow a floating pillar of fire in the sky after someone tells you its God. Israel wasn't Job and neither are we. Every person on the face of this earth is Nebuchadnezzar. We are all building up our castles in the name of ourselves and when they come tumbling down, we say "It's okay. It's a test. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing (following God) and I'll get through it." That may be true, but I suggest that you take an honest look in the mirror and tell yourself that because you are probably doing something wrong.
We need to stop taking credit for things that are not our own to take credit for, and when things get tough, we need to quit being pious little pharisees who say "I'm being tempted" and start examining ourselves in the mirror and decide if we're doing something wrong and that someone is trying to get our attention.
2 comments:
Wow. That's really convicting.
I agree with Shaney. There's really nothing to say right now.
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