The Problem With Pride

   Good Morning Friends!  I want to talk to you today about the quiet power called Humility.  When I started this blog I had two prayers which I have prayed every day since beginning it.  The first was that God would give me the words to write, and the second was that God would keep me humble.  I firmly believed from the very beginning that great things were going to come out of this blog, but I also knew that every talent and gift I have comes from God, and therefore I had nothing to boast about.  The thing is, God can use us when we're humble.  But when we start letting our ego get in the way, we halt our own progress.
   We have to approach life with the remembrance that "every good and perfect gift" comes from God.  (James 1:17)  We often think of this verse in reference to material things, like money, children, homes, etc, but this also applies to things like promotions, favor, friendships, and opportunities.  It can be easy for us to get it into our heads that we are something great and that we have built our empires on our own strength, but this is a dangerous position to be in, for "pride goes before destruction"  (Proverbs 16:18)  And when we begin to think that we are responsible for the creation of the good things in our lives, we are like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand.  (Matthew 7:24-27)  See, you may have a talent or strength which you think has carried you thus far, and you may put a lot of confidence in it.  But the problem is, when the rains come, as they inevitably will, if you are only looking to yourself as the sole constructor of your universe, you will soon find that your weaknesses can destroy you.  Conversely, when we give God the glory for all the good we have received, knowing that our blessings come only from Him, when the struggles of life begin to attack us, we can trust that His strength will work through our weaknesses and bring us victories that we could have never accomplished on our own.  (2 Corinthians 12:9)
  Take some time today to evaluate where your attitude is.  Are you trusting in your own strength and giving yourself a pat on the back for all your accomplishments, or are you remaining humble and thankful that God has blessed you with great things?  Start taking the praise you receive and giving it back to God, and start trusting Him to continue blessing you with good things.  You will find that when your confidence is not in yourself, when the storms come, you won't have to depend on your own strength to fix them, but you can simply and humbly bask in God's goodness and let Him carry you through.
  Keep moving forward and stay humble with each victory.  I'm so excited to see you succeed!

~K.W.