Wednesday, 13 May 2020
Proverbs 13:10 – Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. (NIV 1984)
There is always this connection between strife and pride. Pride will drive us toward self-importance which lures us to fight for favorable outcomes and unfair advantages for ourselves. That is the reason strife always happens when pride is involved.
When two persons with differing or conflicting opinions come together and refuse to consider the feelings and viewpoints of the other party, such a situation will usually breed strife. However, when someone is able to value and accept others who may hold different viewpoints as equally valid opinions for consideration – not necessarily in full agreement, such conciliatory gestures usually promote peace.
Wise people pay attention to advise. Not that all advice and counsel are good and applicable, but when we listen to others, we are given the opportunity to look at another point of view for further consideration and evaluation; Lest we miss out considering other possibilities. Rarely there is only one way to resolve a particular situation.
Jonathan Edwards wrote an excellent essay on the issue of “Undetected Pride”. In his writing, he listed 7 symptoms of spiritual pride which would bring about quarrels and strife among brethren.
- Fault-finding: Pride causes us to overlook our shortcomings and find faults on others.
- A harsh spirit: Pride causes us to be frustrated and annoyed by the failings of others and hinders us from treating them with love and gentleness.
(“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”- Galatians 6:1) - Superficially: Pride causes us to put forward a good outward appearance with little concern for the inward condition of our heart. We would then far more concern with others’ perceptions of us than the reality of our hearts with God.
- Defensiveness: Pride causes us to protect ourselves from hurt which would result to hurt others and not trust God.
- Presumption before God: Pride causes us to feel entitled, yet not adequately mindful of God.
- Desperation for attention: Pride causes us to seek the attention of others to boost our self-esteem rather than seek to please God.
- Neglecting Others: Pride causes us to prefer some people over others.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24 ESV)
Pray:
Dear Heavenly Father,
We confess that if we have neglected your teaching, please forgive us.
Thank You for the words of wisdom which are found in the Scripture. Keep us from prideful insolence and destructive strife and teach us to walk in your way. Grant us wisdom from above and help us to be willing to learn from your godly counsel. Help us to take to heart all the teachings found in Your Word, and enable us, in the power of Your Holy Spirit, to apply all we have learned in our everyday life – so that we are not only good and faithful witnesses of Your love and grace – but also worthy members of Your body honoring Your holy name.
In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
Ps. Wallace Ong
xxx
每日灵粮
13/05/20星期三
作者：王振威传道
箴言13:10骄傲只启争竞．听劝言的、却有智慧。
冲突与骄傲之间总是有着密不可分的关系。骄傲会驱使我们变为自大，这会诱使我们为了对自己有利的成果及不正当的利益而奋斗。这就是为什么当人骄傲时就会引起冲突的原因。
当两个人来到一起考量事情出现相左或相抵触的意见，而拒绝考虑对方的感受和观点时，这种情况通常会引起冲突。但是，当某人能够尊重并接受他人可能持有不同观点而进行考量时—-不一定完全同意，但是这种和解姿态通常会促进和平。
明智的人留心听从忠告。并不是所有的建议和劝告都是有益和适用的，但是当我们听取其他意见和建议时，我们就有机会考虑另一种观点，以供进一步考量和评估；以免我们错过考虑其他可能性的机会。因为通常解决某种特定情况的方式不会只有一个。
乔纳森•爱德华兹（Jonathan Edwards）就“未被发现的骄傲”的课题撰写了一篇出色的文章。在他的著作中，他列举了七个属灵骄傲的症状，这会在肢体之间引起争吵和冲突。
1.吹毛求疵：骄傲使我们忽略了自己的缺点，而挑剔他人的毛病。
2.刻薄的心灵：骄傲会使我们对他人的失败感到沮丧和恼怒，并阻碍我们以爱和温柔对待他们。
（“弟兄们、若有人偶然被过犯所胜、你们属灵的人、就当用温柔的心、把他挽回过来．又当自己小心、恐怕也被引诱。”（加拉太书6：1）
3.肤浅的：骄傲使我们在人前表现出良好的外貌而很少关切我们的内心状况。这样一来，我们会顾虑别人对我们的看法，而不是我们对上帝的真实心意。
4.防备心：骄傲会使我们保护自己免受伤害，但这可能导致他人受伤害及不相信上帝。
5.在上帝面前自义：骄傲会使我们自视过高，而缺乏考虑到上帝。
6.渴望得到关注：骄傲使我们寻求他人的关注，以提高我们的自尊心，而不是取悦上帝。
7.忽视他人：骄傲使我们偏爱某些人。
诗篇139:23-24 “神阿、求你鉴察我、知道我的心思、试炼我、知道我的意念．看在我里面有甚么恶行没有、引导我走永生的道路。”
祈祷：
亲爱的天父，
我们承认，如果我们忽略了你的教导，请原谅我们。感谢你在圣经中赐下智慧的话语。让我们远离骄傲自大和毁灭性的冲突，并教导我们走在你的旨意中。从上头赐下智慧给我们，并帮助我们愿意学习你神圣的教导。帮助我们牢记《圣经》中所有的教训，使我们能够靠着圣灵的能力，将我们所学习的，运用在我们的日常生活中。让我们不仅成为你慈爱与恩典的见证人—-同时也是你的身体中一个尊崇你圣名的肢体。
我奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。
陈月妃译