Monday, March 14
Deuteronomy 8:11-18
Psalms 41, 44, 52
Hebrews 2:11-18
John 2:1-12
Deuteronomy 8:11-18
This scripture from Deuteronomy warns us not to take the credit for the good things that happen to us, it is a warning about one of the most difficult sins (for me) to conquer - Pride. And of one of the most difficult virtues to achieve - true humility.
I can sometimes do a pretty good of achieving the outward signs of humility. I don’t require a lot of acknowledgement for the work I do. In fact I find it a bit embarrassing when I get too much acknowledgement. But when I reflect on the reason why I don’t need praise from others, the reason is not so pretty. I have enough of my own self-satisfaction to sustain me, simply for knowing it was a job well done. I believe I have just defined the word PRIDE.
I know that what I am doing is not what God has in mind when he asks for humility of us. I need to take the struggle inside, to give God the credit first, and not be so self-satisfied with the gifts I have, which are all from God anyway. So, if this devotional speaks to anyone besides me, it is not because of any great skill on my part, it is because God put a word in my head that would speak to you in the moment you happened to pick this up. That is what God does, he uses us for his purposes. We just happen to be at a place where we are willing to be part of his plan. There has been at least one time in my life, that I have been part of something that I do feel completely humble about, in that God gets all the glory. It involved a family member, and God used me, along with a lot of other people to change her life. The thing I did was not important on its own, but when you take the series of events and put them all together, I am convinced that God made me a part of that plan, his plan. If I could be more humble, more open to giving God the credit first, I might be able to be part of more events like that. So I will keep trying to push out the pride in my life. God can do much bigger things than I could even think about.
Melonye Suarez