Daily Wisdom

‘Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.’ – Pro 16:18

The greatest threat to ourselves and thus the church is not the persecution from the world or the attacks of satan, but from the carnality of our flesh and our compromise of the truth from within our own heart. 

The danger of pride and haughtiness is the subtle deception that occurs before they become recognizable and ugly. They’re seldom realized as the problem, causing us to be naive in our thinking that we’re above such frailties common to man. One, it causes our flesh to be carnal and self-absorbed in our interest and expectations rather than serving the interest of others in Christlikeness. Two, we can be prone to compromise the truth of God’s Word to the degree of accomplishing our own wishes instead of the Father’s will. 

Pride is a sin that takes you farther than you want to go and keeps you there longer than you want to stay… HSAY

Daily Wisdom

“Their land is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hand…“ Isa 2:8

While as a society we may not worship carved images today, we have replaced it with man and objects of power; paying homage to self, materialism and power.  But the wise man would take his seat in the back of the banquet rather than boasting of his seat in the front (Lk 14:10). Allow your choices to be filtered through the hands of God, then what falls before you will be by His will. And by putting everything in God’s hands you’ll see God’s hands in everything.

The greater use of our hands would be in lifting others up and escorting them to the front… (HSAY)   

Daily Wisdom

“For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.” Phil 2:20-21

By way of design there exists two natures, one is the old nature before one gets saved and the second is a new nature after one receives salvation. But, Paul illustrates here that as a Christian we can still operate in either a natural or unnatural state.  The natural state is Holy Spirit led while the unnatural is self gain. Outside of Timothy, Paul had no one who was like-minded towards a natural state of being Holy Spirit led, instead they sought after personal desire and gain. There is always something to gain by our efforts or investments, the question is what are we interested in or desiring to gain?  Paul said “let nothing be done in vainglory” (Phil 2:3), referring to self-conceit. Selfish people are only good to themselves, and are often surprised when they are alone as to their true value. Man is prone to see only what he is looking for and hear what he’s listen for, and in doing so he misses the still small voice of the Spirit (1 Kg 19:12). Selfishness is the greatest distance between the natural and unnatural state of man, and to close that gap requires you to change your desires. Be someone who causes someone else to change their unnatural state. By doing so you’ll be a natural Christian.

Being a natural Christian demands progression, not perfection.

HSAY… Todd

Daily Wisdom

“Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”  Isa 5:21

It’s said: Talent is God given, be humble. Fame is man given, be grateful, Conceit is self-given, be careful.  The design of this chapter is the prevalent vices that permeated within Judah, and self-conceit being the fifth sin listed. Pointing out those who had developed an inflated, false opinion of their own knowledge and it’s vanity.  God tells us there is more hope for a fool than a man wise in his own conceit (Pro 26:12). The first sin we know of in our universe was Lucifer’s self-conceit. One that is self-absorbed only thinks in terms of what makes them feel good, and fail miserably in their relationships; with God included.  Point… if you think a post or comment is about you, the truth is it probably isn’t you just see yourself in it. If so, don’t get upset with the mirror, change the reflection instead.

Conceit is self-proclaiming, if it’s worth proclaiming let God or man do it for you (Pro 27:2).

HSAY… Todd