I was listening to something that Rich Mullins said on an old tape I have of him, and he talked about that we have to lay down our being good idols. It’s not that we don’t strive for moral excellence, but realizing by God’s grace we are what we are and we can do what we can do.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me 1 Cor. 15:10
I remember I came home one night from work and I was thinking, well I am doing pretty well now, I’ve got this eating bad food and drink under control, abstinence, I even gave God the video camera of my mind so I don’t have sex with guys in my mind anymore, and then I heard this voice in my head say: “When you think you stand, take heed least you fall.”
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 1 Cor. 10:12
Another woman and I were talking about vices and pride statements and I could not help but notice that Walt Disney said on a television biography that his only vice was smoking and he died of lung cancer. I made the statement that coffee was my only vice to my daughter right before I got into a car fender bender going to Starbucks. I’ve heard that statement a lot lately by many Christians. Their “only” vice, and pride seems to be the biggest vice in life. It says that “pride goes before destruction and haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18”
So as soon as I heard that scripture in my mind, I said, “Okay Lord, you are right, forgive me for pride.”
Another idol I’ve found is a sense of “false security.” I had blogged that when I get in my car or I get on plane we all have this false sense of security in trusting in the plane mechanic who has done his job, trusting in the car to get us to our destination, and trusting that the pilot or other people on the highway are not going to make mistakes. I had this widow tell me that a tire bounced across the street and hit the front end of her new car and normally she is never on that street or at that time of day. What a “bazaar coincidence.” The person did not have insurance so it made her insurance rates go up. She was lucky that her daughter and she were not killed. I’ve been praying wherever I get in my car now. I’m not trusting in “automatic” anything. I’ve had too many people not yield and run stop signs to trust in a false sense of security in my car. I myself have had people’s tires fall off and bounce across the front of my car, they just did not hit my car like it hit her car.
Some trust in chariots (new cars or 4-wheel drive) and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7
I woke up one morning about two years ago and I heard in my spirit, “pray for your daughters.” By 2:00 p.m. I had a phone call that my daughter Hannah was in a car accident. A truck pulled in front of her and totaled her car. The airbag was inflated and all that was wrong with her is a sprained hand. One of her other sister’s friends “just happened” to be driving by and got her cell phone in the car and called me to come to the hospital.
I’ve heard a number of reports from doctors who have said “your cancer is in remission,” and the cancer came back. That is what happened to my husband's sister at 31 years old. For my spouse he had a heart arrhythmia in January after snow skiing for three days, but a full work-up by a cardiologist in February said it was flux. Back then I had a “warning” in my spirit that something was very wrong, but doctors sometimes give us false hope. Same with my husband’s heart symptoms, he was hooked up to a heart monitor and his heart was fine the week he was having indigestion problems and then was feeling great right before a massive heart attack in a few days.
I find that many times before a big storm in life like the Titanic where the water was so peaceful that they could not detect a large iceberg ahead, a storm is brewing around the corner and we are not ready. The Bible warns about complacency. That is what happened to America, they were complacent about border control and the World Trade Center was destroyed. As Christians do we have good border control? It’s a false peace or sense of security rather than trusting in Jesus who is the “prince of peace.”
While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 1 Thess. 5:3
When I see men’s online profile, “I’m a self-made man,” I want to run the other way. I want a God-made man. Pride is saying we have accomplished something on our own as far as our standing with God (our own good works) or we got our belongings in life, our jobs, our status in life on our own. Any of us could have been born in a third world country. Any of us can lose our health at any time. I thank God on a regular basis I was born to a middle class working family in the United States and not a woman under tyranny in Iraq. My parents were at least together and went to church. I’ve spoken to many people whose parents treated them poorly like they were like second class citizens on the planet.
But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. Duet. 8:18
Nebuchadnezzar (reigned 605-562 B.C.) was a king of Babylon during whose long and eventful reign the Neo-Babylonian Empire attained its peak and the city of Babylon its greatest glory. He lost his kingship as far as going mentally ill for a while when he was bragging about being king on his own accord. Hezekiah got in trouble when he showed his treasures to the enemy (bragging about them) and a prophet told him that he was going to die. He cried out to the Lord and the Lord added 15 years to his life. King Herod was struck down when everyone called him a god and he did not give the glory to God.
They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man. Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. Acts 12:22-23
I find that God does not share his glory. He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt to show the nations that he “truly is the one and only true God.”
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Romans 9:17 & Exodus 9:16
Whatever God does in our lives it’s for his glory. I think the movie, “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” when Jesus was on the cross where actor John Wayne’s voice says, “Truly this man was the son of God” rather took it away from the fact that He is the only true God.
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:20
I want God’s true peace in my life, not a false sense of security and peace. Not peace from this world.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
Rich Mullins talks about the Prince of Peace in this song: Hold Me Jesus:
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