Posts Tagged: 1 Corinthians 4:5

“Pride in its Proper Place”

On February 13, 2023 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I did a 12-step reading the other day that made me think a bit differently about the “vice” (??) of pride.

Pride works from within; it is the direct appreciation of oneself.
  Arthur Schopenhauer

Pride, like all emotions, has two faces: one healthy and one sick. It is our challenge to use the healthy side well. Sick pride fills us with ourselves, looks down on others, and has no room for generosity. Healthy pride is heavy with humility. If we can feel joyful when we succeed, and tell others about it honestly, we are not being boastful.

Sick pride often keeps us from doing things because we are too proud to ask for help when we need it, or too proud to risk failure, or too proud to do anything that might not turn out perfect.

Healthy pride about our greatest victories always comes with the awareness that we did not do it all by ourselves. We had the aid, advice, and encouragement of loved ones. In all things that really count, we never walk alone. Even those who claim pride is not a virtue admit that it is the parent of many virtues.

What makes me proud of myself today?

From Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.

Of course, even healthy pride is prone to getting sick. It can pick up the common cold with uncommon ease. And, with Pride, the common cold can develop into cancer in a matter of seconds.

Christian thinkers, from Augustine of Hippo to C.S. Lewis, have pointed out that evil is not the opposite of good. Rather, evil is the twisting of something that is good. The Bible has verses that suggest the same.

For example, the Apostle Paul (whom I suspect was a person who struggled with pride) said that there was a good kind of boasting—boasting in the LORD (1 Corinthians 1:31) Boasting is usually a sign of sick pride. Healthy pride is focused outward and upward toward God.

This same Paul pointed out that, if we play our cards right, the very God in whom we boast will commend us. “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.” (1 Corinthians 4:5, English Standard Version) In other words, God wants to be proud of us!

So, when we actually do something right, it is okay to acknowledge that. However, if we go on and on about it, rest assured that we have crossed over into a pride that does not serve anyone well, least of all, ourselves.

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“AFFIRMING THE PLEASURE OF GOD”

On February 10, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Years ago, my twelve-step sponsor encouraged me to do daily affirmations.  It is a good discipline.  I usually do my affirmation early in the morning.  It helps to set the tone for my day.  Today’s affirmation is as follows: Today, by God’s grace and with God’s help, I will seek to make it a good day for God.  I will do this by trusting Him, by obeying Him, by enjoying Him, by praising Him, and by being kind to everything and everyone He has made.

One of the many ways that I sometimes go wrong is that I want God to make it a good day for Me.  Some of my worst days have been the result of that attitude.

Putting anyone first means that you want to make that person happy, as much as lies within you.  Of course, no one can really make another person happy unless the other really desires happiness.  Some people enjoy misery, and enjoy making others miserable as well.

But God is a God who is easily pleased.  Jesus said that even a cup of cold water given in his name did not go unnoticed (Matthew 10:42).  Now that is a God who notices and is pleased by very small acts of kindness!

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to a church in which the (dis??)members were not getting along particularly well, the church at Corinth.  Actually, “not getting along particularly well” is a huge understatement.  The church was a massive mess!  One of their many problems was that they were focused on which of the apostles they liked the best, instead of focusing on what God had done for them and what God wanted to do in and through them.

Among other things, Paul wrote the following: “So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time– before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due” (1 Corinthians 4:5, New Living Translation).

God exposing our darkest secrets and private motives sounds pretty scary, at least to me.  But Paul ends on the note of God praising us.

What?!  God praising us!  That can’t be right!

Yes, that is exactly what Paul said.  And the God who praises us is most certainly a God who is infinitely capable of being pleased with our little attempts to please Him.

I don’t really know if I will please God today or not.  But I am comforted by a prayer of Thomas Merton.  I end with it.  (I have bolded three sentences that especially speak to this matter of pleasing God.)

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

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