Humility or Pride
When the hard walls of opinions, judgments and unrighteous anger rise up in me against pain, violations, injustice, foolishness and selfish immaturity, I might be able to spout off in ways that persuade others of the righteousness of my position. I might be able to suggest solutions. I might be very articulate and convince my self and others— and I might lose God’s presence and purpose in the process.
That’s because pride is the mortar cementing those hard walls within my heart and soul. That’s because I’m ignoring Jesus’ teaching about meekness and humility. I’ve forgotten that God opposes the proud and draws near to the broken hearted and poor in spirit and that the Holy Spirit within me would teach me to seek Him in all—if I’d let Him.
It’s inbred in human nature to blame others, to take sides, to demonize those who disagree, and to pick up offenses that are not ours. But Jesus calls us to die to our human natures. He calls us to a supernatural life that is above political polarities and the grip of party favoritism over ball clubs (hard for a born and bred Chicago Cubs fan) and church differences. He calls us to rise above pitting CNN against FOX and to seek the solutions His Holy Spirit suggests. He calls us to repent of pride, seek His face, and do His will—first with those closest to us.
It’s quite likely that God cares more about how President Trump treats his wife and son today than about how he treated a celebrity yesterday. It could be that God is seeing the greed in a senator’s heart as more vital than the senator’s comments to the media about Russian interference in US elections. A news commentator’s vindictive spirit may be darker to God than those she accuses and it’s likely that God thinks a pastor’s secrets are more important than his sermons.
Without true, open, tendered hearted meekness and humility, objectivity is impossible. And it is also impossible to oppose with any enduring strength of purpose or true authority the selfish evils that come from the heart of man. Without true meekness and humility, finding God’s solution to injustice is impossible.
“Justice is not without us as a fact, it is within us as a yearning.” (George Eliot) Our yearning for justice will be met only as each of us repent of prideful personal opinion, judgments, and unrighteous indignation and as one by one we decide to seek God and follow what He might have for us today. (And I’m sure—opinion again?—that like Wilberforce and Gladstone—some will be called to political action and led to speak out and stand against wrongs.)
Lord I want those walls of pride in me to come down and stay down. I want to be humble at the core of my being, in every part. I want to seek and find Your will. I want Your spirit to win out over my pride. Oh—if enough of us would do that— and choose to live God’s goodness with our neighbors— I’m sure there would be a bit less pain, injustice, foolishness and selfish immaturity in this world. Oh Lord— am I judging again? Help us. Help us all! May many in this nation turn to seek Your face, Your peace—a peace that the world will not give. May we seek the fear of God— not fear of bombs or fascism or guns or religious fanatics nor of conservatives versus liberals or terrorists or the intellectual elite or big money takeovers or losing our jobs and liberties and health and . . . . and . . . . whatever we fear. . . Oh Lord give us fear of You.
The fear of the Lord, the awesomeness of His purity, His otherness, His powerful all knowing love, is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the All Holy One is understanding, intelligence, prudence and insight. Proverbs 9:10 (Adapted)
