Pride Test:
1. Do you long for attention? No? Well, are you pushy or emotional?Do you interrupt or offer opinions no one is asking for?
2. Are you jealous of people who succeed? Do you criticize people who succeed or try to find reasons to justify why they're more successful than you?
3. Do you always have to win? Even if it means cheating?
4. Do you have a pattern of lying? Are you often trying to shape perceptions of you by shading the truth?
5. Do you have a hard time acknowledging when you're wrong?
6. Do you have lots of conflict with other people?
7. Do you ever cut inline - in traffic, at stores, at the airport?
8. Do you get upset when people don't honor your achievements?
9. Do you tend more to an attitude of entitlement or thankfulness?
10. Do you honestly feel that you're basically a good person and better than most others?
Humility Test:
1. Do you ask for help when you need it?
2. Do you give credit where it's due?
3. Are you quick to forgive and difficult to offend?
4. Are you patient with the weaknesses of others?
5. Are you a peacekeeper? Do you take extra effort to make peace -simply keeping your mouth closed when necessary?
6. Do you serve others - regularly?
7. Are you thankful?
8. Do you have a tender conscience and are you quick to repent?
9. Do you admit your own weaknesses?
10. Do you gladly receive the Lord's correction?
"...all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
- 1 Peter 5:5
"...be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interest, but to the interests of others."
- Philippians 2.2-4
(taken from Bill Barley - Living Stones Church - Kona, Hi)
Forget yourself
A summation of Saul’s and David’s lives reveals a very similar pattern: chosen and empowered by God, people follow, disobey God’s command… and this is where they split… Saul denies his sin and seeks only the approval of others. David confesses his sin and repents, seeking the approval of God alone. Saul’s life ends with the loss of God’s spirit and his kingdom, his sons’ deaths and suicide. David is given a promise of a house that will stand forever (Christ) and dies knowing his son will build the temple of God. The turning point is so drastic yet obvious that it seems too simple to be the catalyst for such different outcomes, but it was…and still is. God calls David a man after his own heart, not because he was without shortcomings; he had plenty (lust, murder, terrible father…). He receives the coveted title because he was more concerned with honoring God and seeking his approval than anything or anyone else’s. This is seen throughout David’s life, but more than anywhere else, it manifested itself through his humility.
It is humility that allows us to sit in the mire of despair without feeling the need to raise ourselves up by putting others down (2 Sam 16.10-12). It is a humble spirit that gives courage to face the giants of life because we know that victory or defeat does not rest on our shoulders (1 Sam 17.45-47). It is humility that reminds us that we are simply sinner’s saved by grace and shouldn’t hesitate seeking instant restoration with God through repentance (2 Sam12.13; 24.17). Simply put, humility is the foremost quality of a true follow of Christ (see Philippians 2.6-11) and consequently, that of a man (or woman) after God’s own heart.
sipping on cyanide
The Israelites suffered from a tragic flaw: complacency (see Deut 4.25). Webster’s defines it as “a feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy.” It eventually led to the destruction of their land, homes, and nation, aka the loss of the promise God made to Abraham 500 years prior. Before entering their God-given land, they were instructed at least a dozen times to utterly destroy the inhabitants, not letting “anything that breathes remain alive” (Deut 20.16). The Israelites didn’t heed the command and suffered gravely for it.
Living in a society that pushes an acceptance of others’ beliefs and ways of life, this seems harsh, even brutal. But what we don’t understand, and neither did they, was that over time, expose leads to temptation, which can lead to imitation, which leads to destruction. For Israel, it was idolatry, the worshiping of false gods. They eventually forget what Yahweh had done for them, saw their prosperity as resulting from their own efforts and turned to worship the gods’ of their neighbors. For us, it is a little subtler. It is a recovering alcoholic not seeing the harm of going to a bar to play pool; it is a husband and father of 3 keeping the Internet at his house and on his phone even though he is struggling with online porn. It is me going to a friend’s house where I know they will be smoking pot, thinking that 6 months of being clean will stave off the temptation of 13 years of bad habits. Subtler still: it is sleeping through your morning quiet time, watching suggestive television or making fun of a friend behind his back. Major problems usually always begin subtle.
It is our complacency with the things that destroy and our unwillingness to utterly annihilate them that will keep us eternally chained to our suffering.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days…” (Deut 30.19,20)
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