Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, Philippians 2:3

Have you ever been driving down the road and had somebody try to pass you when you’re already going a few miles an hour over the speed limit? Even though there may be a car coming in the oncoming lane you hesitate to back off because you’re “in the right”?

How about having an argument with someone or a disagreement, and then withdrawing and giving them the silent treatment because you were “in the right”?

Perhaps we have even had angry verbal arguments with our spouses, in front of the children, somehow thinking that what mattered most was that we were “in the right”!

We take stands and dig our heels in, with no regard to how it may be affecting those around us. Our pride, anger, jealousy, etc., can be absolutely blinding to those affects, the truth and God’s will.

The scripture, as usual, gives us examples of how anger and pride work out for us. In Genesis 4, we see Cain and Abel presenting offerings to God. The scripture says that Abel presented the “firstborn” of his flock (the firstborn is considered the best portion). But Cain, it simply says he brought “an offering of the fruit of the ground”. It doesn’t say that they were specially chosen, or the finest portion, he just brought fruit. God accepted Abel’s offering with regard (favor), but for Cain’s offering “he had no regard”. And Cain got very angry. Scripture then says (in 4:6-7) that the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. It’s desire is contrary (the word here actually means longing) you, but you must rule over it.” God is clearly explaining to Cain that his jealousy and anger are based on his lack of doing what is right. He also tells him that if he doesn’t do well it is because sin is lurking and desires him. Then in verse 7, God says “but you must rule over it”.

Cain out of jealousy (over his brother’s favor with God), pride (in thinking that he deserved God’s favor) and anger (that he wasn’t getting his way) killed his brother Abel.

Now, we in our jealousy, pride and anger are not taking the earthly lives of those around us, but we may be driving them further from God and (worse than Cain) could be keeping them from Jesus and from being rescued from eternal damnation.

The thing that I hope we hear, that Cain didn’t, is that we can control our actions. Remember verse 7 “but you must rule over it”. God wouldn’t tell us to rule over the sin in our lives if we weren’t already able to do it. He didn’t say be perfect, that is unattainable this side of heaven, He said rule over it or control it. And, we have something that Cain didn’t have…we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (if Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives) and nothing is impossible with God (But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26) then we can control it.

I pray that today we would be mindful of our pride, anger, jealousy and any other sinful feelings that control our behavior. I pray that we would put aside those feelings of “being in the right” and would instead desire to be in His will. And that we would remember that the eternal lives of those around us are far more important then whether we are right or not. I pray that pleasing our Heavenly Father would be far more important to us than whether we are right or not. I pray that we would be humble and would remember that we are a pitiful sinner worthy of no good thing, were it not for the redemption found in the sacrifice of our Precious Savior (when we accepted Him as Lord of our lives) and that should help us to curb our pride where others are concerned. And, I pray that we would PRAISE God for His forgiveness (found in our personal relationship with Jesus), that we would rule over the sin in our lives and be used mightily by Him to glorify Himself and draw those around us into a personal relationship with Jesus.

If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and if anger, jealousy, pride and other sinful feelings are uncontrollable in your life, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Only through repenting of our sin, the forgiveness of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives can we control the those areas of our lives. And we have a loving Heavenly Father in Heaven who gave us that power and control, through Jesus, because He loves us. Please pray that prayer. Once you have, please reach out to me at Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know so that I can be in prayer for you and can help you grow in your knowledge of, and relationship with, our Precious Savior, Jesus Christ.

Luv Ya!

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:12