15 “If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.”
Memory of the Month: Psalm 33:4
4 For the word of the Lord is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
Today's reading: JEREMIAH 43-45 HEBREWS 5
The Favor of The Lord
We had a friend who messaged me and said this:
"I am so proud of my children but I know pride is a sin; how do I deal with this?"
I texted her back that there is nothing wrong with being proud of your family as long as you don't 'rub it' in someone's face.
I would like to go a little deeper so that those of us who feel 'proud' of our families and friends can see what the Bibe says about this.
Psalm 90:-16 May Your work be shown to Your servants, and Your splendor to their children. 17May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands— yes, establish the work of our hands!
Read it over again. This sounds like pride in the making-'Your work and your splendor' shown to your servants and children? Don't miss the simple little statement that says, "May the favor of the Lord rest upon us". The word 'favor' is the key to our point today.
The word favor translates from the Hebrew language: delightfulness, beauty, favor, kindness, pleasantness. There is nothing to suggest pride. As we are created in God's image, this suggests that we look at someone we love with delightfulness. We are delighted in kindness toward them. Our favor is in beauty toward them. There is a pleasant feeling toward those we love. This is how God looks at us. He sees us in Christ as beautiful-as kind-pleasant. But more than that, God is delighted with favor for us. God is delighted in us. God is delighted in you.
Feeling guilt for 'feeling proud' (or being delighted in) for having feelings that we were created with because of God's own personality-what does that sound like? It sounds like a weapon from the enemy(and it is) to keep us from the joy God wants us to have.
James 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
The 'proud' have chosen the praise and ways of the world and this is clearly sin. But to have delightful favor for those you love as you walk in Christ-this is not sin-it is a merciful blessing to us from God's heart.
Psalm 75:4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
It is easy to see God does not like a braggart or someone who toots their own horn. Having quiet, humble delight for those we love is such a blessing but we must be careful to not cross the line to boasting or bragging.
Jeremiah 9:23–24 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
Any student of God in Christ, knows that the more we learn the more we need to learn and in 'humility learned' says that no one can boast of truly understanding and knowing all we can know about God. We can have humble pride just knowing that God gives us the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit to lead us and help us learn.
The thing that comes with pride is arrogance.
Mark 7:20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
Thoughts that come from a pure heart are not evil. Thoughts of delight from a pure heart for those you love are not evil. If we let ourselves become prideful and arrogant, then we have crossed the line and need to go before God with it all.
Be delighted in your family the way the Lord is delighted over us all when we are obedient in His love. Family is blessing over blessing that Comes from God. Rejoice in them-thank God for them-be humbly proud of this great love and joy.
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
Sometimes I cross the line and become arrogant about my family. Forgive me. Have mercy on me. Thank you for the great blessing of family.
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