The Deep Blue Two-piece Suit

 

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” 

Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)

  The sigh of impatience from behind me sounded more like a shout in my ears. My daughter and I were in line to prepare for boarding our plane for a flight to Chicago. Since she had never flown before, she had several questions for the agent.

 Remembering my first time flying, I completely understood her nervousness. I turned to explain to the source of the sigh but was met with yet another, louder sigh accompanied by rolling eyes, crossed arms, and a tapping foot.

“Oh, good grief! You people! How hard is it?” she snapped at me. “She has never flown before,” I tried to explain. “So?” she interrupted. “Put your stuff in the tub, walk through the metal detector and go! I have important business to do.”

 I turned back around but my mind had a perfect picture of this woman: deep blue two-piece suit, black heels, perfect hair, makeup, and a leather shoulder bag. In comparison, my daughter and I were very casually dressed in jeans, sandals, and summer blouses. And, now, handbags of humiliation.

My daughter and I walked through the metal detector as quickly as we could and began to gather our shoes and purses. It was at that exact moment that we heard a beeping noise and turned to see an agent motioning with his index finger for the deep blue two-piece suit to step to the side to be wanded by security. We could not help but listen to the one-sided conversation that followed. “What? Are you kidding me? You let THEM through and you are checking ME? ME?”

  Proverbs16:18 is very clear about the outcome of a prideful attitude, much like the one the woman boarding the plane showed my daughter and me. But I have to admit – and I am ashamed of it – I have had that same prideful attitude. 

Maybe not as I am getting on a plane, but in the checkout line at the grocery store or department store or sitting in “my” pew at church. That air of importance that I have about me, as if to let people know that I am more important than they are; therefore, they should give me preferential treatment. Shame on me.

Can you think of one single time in the entire Bible when Jesus displayed pride in Himself for who He was and what He was called to do? Me either.

The warning is very clear. A prideful attitude will not go undisciplined by the Lord. If you can identify with the owner of the deep blue two-piece suit, please join with me in losing the prideful attitude and replacing it with the love of Jesus.

Father, please show me the prideful attitude in my life so that I can throw it out. I want to be like Jesus in every single thing that I do. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

  R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation as the devotion example?

• Can you identify with the woman in the suit or with my daughter and me?

 Apply

• Write the power verses on note cards and place them in your purse, car and around your home.

• When you are tempted to fall into a prideful attitude, pull out a card and remind yourself of the result of arrogance and pride and ask the Lord to give you strength to not give in.

 Power 

• Proverbs 16:18 (NIV) “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

• I Corinthians 13:4 (NIV) “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

• I Samuel 2:3 (NIV) “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.”   

The Battle of the Wills

                                 “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your 

good Spirit lead me on level ground.” 

Psalm 143:10 (NIV)   

When my children were small, they struggled with decisions all the time. Which cereal to eat, what outfit to wear to school, and which television show to watch. So I made it easy for them: I gave them options. Rice Krispies or Cheerios? The blue shorts and blue and white top or the green outfit? The Smurfs or the Muppets?

There were no other alternatives; I offered two choices and they had to decide. The fact that they were all three a bit strong-willed did not matter to me. It was my will against theirs. And when they didn’t do what I wanted, I was even more determined to be in control and decide for them. Most of the time it ended in tears or tantrums. I’m trying to do less of that as an adult. At least in public. 

Here’s my point. Isn’t that the same thing that we do with God? We go before Him and we give Him our options as we pray. “Here are your choices, God. Do I buy the big house on Poplar Street or the big house on the cul-de-sac? Who should I date: the tall good looking boy or the shorter, smarter boy? Which would be better for my backyard – the above-ground or in-ground pool?”

 Psalm 143:10 says “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God . . .” What the Psalmist does not say is “Do my will, God.” How about us? Too many times my attitude, when I pray, is one of “Here are MY options, God. So tell me which one You want” instead of sharing from my heart and then asking Him what He has in mind for my life.

There is nothing wrong with sharing your ideas and plans with the Lord. He wants you to do that! The problem comes when we move from sharing to demanding that the Creator of the Universe choose from OUR options.

I believe that as my relationship with Jesus becomes more of a “one-on-One” and not a “me here/You there” connection, I will want to follow His direction. But that will not happen until I toss out my desires and wants and replace them with His. And as I follow His direction, He will begin to shape those very things that I desire most in my life to be what He desires most for me. My prayers change from my choices for God to His will for me.

I encourage you to go before the Lord without a decision, without an agenda, without your will ahead of His. Ask Him what He wants for your life. Ask Him for direction. Ask for wisdom. And ask for peace when His answer comes, if it doesn’t conform to the answer that you thought you wanted.

Seek His heart and ask Him to change yours to make you more like Him. Then step back and watch what He does. His will or yours? The answer will be obvious.

Father, I come before you asking that you show me your will for my life. I lay all my plans down. Replace them with your plans for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

 R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Have you ever gone before the Lord with your answer to your request and simply asked Him to “rubber stamp” your will?

• What was the result?

Apply

• Journal your prayer requests in a column titled “My Will.” Next journal the title “God’s Will” in the next column. Before you write anything down in the second column, read today’s Power Scriptures and ask the Lord to show you His will for your life.

• Write down what He is sharing in your heart. Are they the same or different?

 Power 

• Psalm 143:10 (NIV) “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

• Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

• Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

 

 

Focusing My Eyes

 “Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is

 meaningless,  a chasing after the wind.” 

Ecclesiastes 6:9 (NIV)

 

Confession time: there are days when I do major battle with greener grass. Not on my lawn but in my life. Please understand that I know what I have been given and I realize that God has truly blessed me. 

Unfortunately, there are times when I allow my focus to shift to what someone else has, and I find myself thinking “If only I could look like that or write like her or have more money in the bank like they do, THEN I would be happy or fulfilled or content or . . . fill in the blank.”

I was having one of those “if only” days when I came across an article titled “What Stars Think of Themselves” and it totally surprised me. All the stars mentioned in the article are extremely successful, wealthy, and beautiful by anyone’s standards. The world says they “have it all” but oddly enough, the stars themselves have a different opinion.

Meryl Streep said that she had no self-confidence in her ability to act; Mike Myers was certain that the “no-talent police” would come to arrest him one day. Michelle Pfeiffer shared that she thought she had the “face of a duck” and Angelina Jolie offered this: “Sometimes I think I look like a funny Muppet.” The very ones that I looked at and thought “Oh to be like you” were themselves feeling that their lives did not compare to people around them.

Solomon addresses this very issue in Ecclesiastes 6:9 (NIV). He says “Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Instead of longing to be more like someone else, I should be focusing on “what the eye sees” – in other words, on what I am already blessed with rather than “the roving of the appetite” – what someone else has.

Solomon wisely states that always looking somewhere else for what I perceive as better than what I have is as foolish as chasing after the wind. I will never catch it, no matter how hard I try.

I have been blessed with a Godly husband, three beautiful children, and six even more beautiful grandchildren. I have a home to live in, blankets to keep me warm, and food in my pantry. I have laundry to wash and floors to sweep. I can read my Bible and pray to my Father any time I choose without having to ask permission from anyone.

A roving appetite will never be satisfied. But focusing my eyes on what I am blessed with will satisfy for a lifetime. And focusing my heart on the Giver of those blessings will satisfy for eternity. 

 Father, thank you for blessings beyond belief. I choose to praise you and not focus anywhere else but on your face. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Do you find yourself with a case of the “if only” very often?

 

• What causes your focus to turn from the Lord and what He has blessed you with to other people and what they have?

Apply

• Journal a list of all your blessings in your life, from the tiniest blessing to the biggest.

 

• Now determine if you would give up any of those blessings in exchange for something that someone else has. Thank the Lord for His gifts to you.

Power 

• Ecclesiastes 6:9 (NIV) “Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

• Proverbs 14:30 (NIV) “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”

 

• Colossians 3:2 (NIV) “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

 

 

 

 

 

To Be Like Me

 

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be 

better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and 

to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” 

Matthew 18:6 (NIV)

 

My daughter has always loved to paint. Pictures. Rooms. Furniture. It doesn’t matter. She has always believed – and I agree – that a fresh coat of paint can make anything look new again. That is why she was painting a bathroom in my home. It had not been updated in years and she had a great idea to paint stripes from the middle of the walls to the floor. 

The colors were unique and the work intricate as she painstakingly brushed each stripe free-handed without using tape to mark the vertical lines. Her two-year-old daughter Lola sat on a tiny stool and watched every move her mother made. She would clap her hands periodically and giggle “Yeah Mommy. Good job, Mommy.”

Finally, my daughter took a lunch break and we all went into the kitchen to fix sandwiches. As we sat down to eat, my daughter suddenly stopped and said “Mom, where is Lola?” Afraid of the answer, we both ran to the bathroom. The newly painted bathroom. And there was Lola, paintbrush in hand, making her own version of stripes horizontally across the wall. All the while she was giggling “Yeah, Mommy! Yeah, Lola!”

“Lola! No, no!” my daughter gasped and, grabbing the paintbrush from her, gave Lola a swat on her bottom. Lola began to cry and ran to the living room as my daughter surveyed the creation Lola had left behind on the walls. My daughter hung her head.

“It’s okay,” I reassured her. “You can fix that.” But she shook her head. “It’s not the wall, Mom. It’s what I just did to Lola. Did you hear her? She was only trying to be like me and do what I did. She just wanted to be like me.”

Matthew 18:6 speaks clearly and loudly as Jesus states that it would be better to sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown than to be a poor example to “little ones.” While He is talking about “little ones” who are new in their faith, it certainly applies to how we model behavior to our children as well.

Do you have children who are watching your every move? Do you find yourself smiling as you hear what they say and do because they are trying to be you or are you cringing at what you are hearing and seeing?

For example: when you tell someone how nice they look and when they have walked on, remark that you really didn’t like what they were wearing, what does your child learn from you? If you see who is calling on your cell phone, ignore the call and later tell the person you didn’t get their call, what behavior are you teaching to your child who is watching you?

My daughter hurried to the living room to hug Lola and apologize for the swat. She brought her back to the bathroom, told her how much she liked her drawing, and asked her to help finish the wall. They spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and painting together. “Yeah, Mommy! Yeah, Lola!”

   Father, please help me to be a Christian example to my children in all things so that by watching me, they will want to know you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

  R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflection:

• Have you ever heard something negative your child has said and realized that it came directly from listening to you?

• How did it make you feel?

 

Apply

• Consider conversations that you have heard your children having with each other that are directly related to conversations you have had.

• If they reflect a poor Christian example, apologize to your children and share Scripture as you strive to do better.

 Power 

• Matthew 18:6 (NIV) “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

• Ephesians 5:1 (NIV) “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children . . .”

• Titus 2:7 (NIV) “In everything set them an example by doing what is good . . .”