STOMP ON YOUR SPIRITUAL PRIDE TODAY!

This is one of my regular blog posts, not a Connect with Future Generations journal entry. I have been home sick the last couple days. With a huge library of bibles and commentaries on my computer and internet access, sick days have become a real blessing and extended time with the Lord of study, prayer, and meditation. I feel like the past two days were like one long quiet time with a lot of coughing and blowing my nose in between. So here are some thoughts from this morning.

Romans 9:6-8; 14-16
6For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”16It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

How does your spiritual pride raise its ugly head? One of the most obvious ways for me is the metaphorical shaking of my head at others when it appears to me that they are refusing the gift of Jesus and creating damage in their own life and the world around them.

Romans 9:1-21 sent a chill down my spine as well as created questions. It creates in me the very questions that Paul knew it would create. Is God unjust? How can God blame anyone for not running to Jesus? What about people I love that seem to be rejecting Christ? I’ll throw up the white flag on this one and go with Paul and say that the clay doesn’t talk back to the hands that shape it.

But about this chill down my spine that I am sure is not related to my illness…as I read this I began to think about direct descendents of Abraham (those Paul himself was distraught over) not being “children of promise.” We are talking about people uniquely valued, blessed, prized by God. Yet, we are told He has mercy on whom He will have mercy. The Potter has the right to make what He wants with the clay. The bigger question this spiked in me was, “Who am I?” Think about of all the people that have ever lived. According to the International Programs Center, U.S. Census Bureau, the total population of the World, projected to 10/09/09 at 15:29 GMT (EST+5) is 6,789,393,995. Who am I? God has mercy on whom He chooses. The chill down my spine is a Holy fear that pulls my arrogant head down in humility rather than letting me raise it up to shake it at someone. It is a holy fear that swallows my self-righteous pride and anger, at least for a moment.

So here is my question for all of us who claim to have been beneficiaries of the mercy of God in Christ today, “Are we a people characterized by holy fear or spiritual pride?”

Let’s pray together:
Father, thank You that salvation does not depend on man’s desire or effort but on Your mercy. I have seen the pain and disconnections my own woeful desires and efforts have brought apart from Christ. Forgive me for approaching the lost outwardly or inwardly as an arrogant punk. Help me to violently and regularly throw my spiritual pride on the ground and stomp it until I can stomp no more. May I exhibit Your great patience and forgiveness toward the lost of this world.