Daily Bible Verses for 9/1/2016

Wisdom and Humility – (Proverbs 3:7, 3:13)

Bible Verse
Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding.

Reading Notes
One of the sins we need to watch out for as Christians is pride and arrogance. This can happen because our sin nature can work in concert with the fallen world we live in as we take pride in the works of our hands. Fortunately for us when we receive salvation, we also receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And it’s the Holy Spirit who carries out God’s work of spiritual growth in us, changing our hearts and minds. However, depending on our heart and our actions, we can either accelerate or hinder the work of sanctification in our lives. In other words, our love for God and our obedience and submission to the promptings of the Holy Spirit affects God’s work of spiritual growth in us. In addition, our study of God’s word, the Bible also affects the process of sanctification. This means when we stray from walking with the Lord, we can become like the Pharisee in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Therefore, we need to be careful and prayerful that our faith does not become a source of pride.

As followers of Jesus, we are to show the love of Christ to the world around us by our attitude and actions. This means as Christians, we should not puff ourselves up and lift ourselves above others. As God’s word tells us we are to walk with all humility, relying on God and not ourselves. Satan would love to use the pride in our hearts to discourage those who are lost and to keep others from receiving the Kingdom of God. We have to remember all followers of Jesus are called to help one another as in serving the Lord with all meekness and humility. We are to seek the lost and help those in need around us, displaying the love we have for Jesus. The other danger with developing an attitude of pride is that it keeps us from reaching those who do not know Christ. Often times when we develop pride over our religious activities, we want to show those off by involving ourselves only in social circles that allow us to boast over our works. When that happens, we can forget that we are called to serve those in need. Moreover, we can quickly develop a heart that has grown cold to those who do not know Christ Jesus our Lord.