Nothingman

It is summer time, and for me that means, camp season! One of my favorite aspects of camp is called team building, where we place an obstacle or challenge in front of a group of students and they must overcome it together as a team. For several years I have worked a station called "The Wall". It is exactly what it sounds like, a giant wall that they must get their entire team over. It stands just under 10' and it is formidable. So far, I have had only one team fail. The reason they failed was because of the one problem that we all have, pride.

C.S. Lewis says this about pride: There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. 


I have been talking about pride for several weeks. However, I believe that the greatest problem that we all have is pride. It is the reason we so desperately want to be successful, so that we can stand up tall, and say, "Behold my greatness! All tremble and despair, because you will never be as awesome as me!" It taints everything we do, our lives, our relationships, and our worship. We so bad want to be something, but in the end, we become nothing. 


Pride is the reason that relationships are torn apart. We rip and tear at each other as we claw our way to our own greatness. We use each other to get what we want, we trample on each other to get what we want, and we think only of ourselves. We want to be something, but in the end we are really nothing. The question is, how can we, as Christians, say that we follow Christ, and yet allow pride to run our lives? 


Lewis continues: How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious? I am afraid it means they are worshiping an imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of this phantom God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people: that is, they pay a pennyworth of imaginary humility to Him and get out of it a pound's worth of Pride towards their fellow-men. I suppose it was of those people Christ was thinking when He said that some would preach about Him and cast out devils in His name, only to be told at the end of the world that He had never known them. And any of us may at any moment be in this death-trap. Luckily, we have a test. Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good - above all, that we are better than someone else - I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.


The reality is, only God is great. He will have none before him. Proverbs 16: 18 -19 says,
 ¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall. 
¹⁹ It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor
than to divide the spoil with the proud. 

In our vain efforts to become great, we will always fail, because God will always bring low the proud. In the end you will become nothing. But Jesus says, "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."


Again, I know that this seems opposite to the rest of the world, But if we try to make ourselves into something, we become nothing, yet if we make ourselves nothing, God will make us into something!


Pride is the greatest sin according to Lewis, and I tend to agree with him. Pride corrupts and spoils all aspects of life, and in the end it leads you to nothing but destruction.


May you realize that only God is great. And may you realize that in order for you to be great, you must first become nothing.
                                                                                                  Peace and Love,
                                                                                                                    Steve
If you want to read the entire article by Lewis, follow this link: 
http://www.btinternet.com/~a.ghinn/greatsin.htm

Don't take your guns to town.

I don't know about you, but when I play a game, I play to win! I put my guns on and turn into a killer. When I play Monopoly, I become some sort of Mafioso who snuffs out the competition (I usually have a glass of water next to me that I drop other players' tokens into; and when I have taken everything from them I say, "You're sleepin' with the fishes!" in my best New Jersey voice.); when I play Risk, I am the Mongol hordes wreaking havoc and destruction; and when I play Mario Kart, I am "The Intimidator", running everyone off the track! In short, I can be a real jerk, because all I can think about is winning. I want to win at all costs, even at the cost of my family and their feelings. I always bring my guns to any competition, because I want to be the winner.

I do this with everything. When my kids played soccer, I was the parent running up and down the field yelling "sweep his leg!" When I watch sports I get so angry that I will throw things at the TV, and then proceed to yell at the top of my lungs. My competitive nature becomes so overwhelming that I begin to hate and despise those who are my opponents and I wish ill upon them. My competitive nature threatens all areas of my life - personal, professional, and even spiritual. No matter what, I put my guns on, and head to town.

It is sad when I sit back and compare other families to mine. What do they have that mine does not? Or what does mine have that they do not? Why is mine better? etc.etc. I take my guns, and head to town on someone's family! I do the same professionally, I compare their success with my success and determine who the loser is. I can also be spiritually competitive, with who knows their Bible better, spends more time in prayer, blah, blah, blah! It is a sickness, and it can consume me. I know I need to leave my guns at home, but just like Bill, I never listen.

The problem is arrogance and, once again, pride. The world is filled with the arrogant and the prideful. They compare themselves to others, and they judge others, all in an effort to prove that they are winners. That they are the best, so they take out their guns and mow down the competition. And as followers of Jesus, is this how we want to live? Is this an attitude we should have? Listen to what Jesus says,

  And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:2-12 ESV)

The world says in order to win, you have to be first! "If you aint first yer last!" But Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." The world says, "Mercy is for the weak!" But Jesus says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." The world says, "Win! At all cost!" But Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

Like anyone else, I want to win because I hate losing at anything. But when I let my competitive nature drive me, then I become like everyone else in this world. As a follower of Jesus, I want to do things His way, therefore I need to practice the lost art of being meek, of showing mercy, and being peaceable. I have to learn to leave my guns at home, and follow Him. It is a daily struggle, yet this is the cross that we were all called to carry. This is what it means to die to yourself. It isn't the fun way, or the easy way, but it is Jesus' way. Jesus says in order to be a winner, you must first lose. The meek shall inherit the earth.

May you learn to leave your guns at home. May you learn that life is not about winning, but learning to be more like Jesus as we follow Him. May you carry your cross daily.
                                                                                                    Peace and love,
                                                                                                                             Steve