Proverbs 16:24

"Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." -Proverbs 16:24

March 20, 2012

a poem

Sometimes your boots are muddy, and sometimes the grass isn't green...but you are still
exactly in the place you are meant to be at that moment.


(By Beth Moore)
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny…
because you demand your own way.
('I am wiser than God about my own life' is the lie that I allow myself to believe as I pursue my own silly destiny, my own idea of a good future.)
I cheat you of contentment…
because you “deserve better than this.”
(Expecting that a life with Christ is hard can be difficult, so often times I step out of His plan, hoping to find an easier path.)
I cheat you of knowledge…
because you already know it all.
(My attitude so often reflects this idea that I am "all-knowing". God can't know enough to handle my life, not nearly as much as I do. So, I don't seek his wisdom...cause I already know.)
I cheat you of healing…
because you are too full of you to forgive.
(I have received more grace from God than I could dish out in ten lifetimes, so my refusal to forgive others is in a way, an unwillingness to acknowledge the grace I have already been given so freely.)
I cheat you of holiness…
because you refuse to admit when you are wrong.
(Because I'm never wrong, right? Because even when I feel 100% wrong, that feeling doesn't give me the right to be prideful and arrogant.)
I cheat you of vision…
because you’d rather look in the mirror than out a window.
(Where is my vision for the lost? My heart is so full of my own worries, my own agenda, and my own life that I often lose sight of a vision for the lost. I am consumed with myself.) 
I cheat you of genuine friendship…
because nobody’s going to know the real you.
(Because she doesn't understand what I'm going through. Because she doesn't have any right to speak into my life. Because I don't have time for friends. Because I'm too important.)
I cheat you of love…
because real romance demands sacrifice.
(After the honeymoon phase, the romance is gone. All that love is replaced with reality when your husband farts in the shower. Why can't he just constantly pursue me and do sweet things and treat me like royalty? It isn't love if it doesn't feel like it, right?)
I cheat you of greatness in heaven…
because you refuse to wash another’s feet on earth.
(I'm too busy to serve others, because I have a husband and two children of my own to care for. I make myself unavailable and talk myself into being un-useful.)
I cheat you of God’s glory…
because I convinced you to seek your own.
(God's plan for me probably doesn't ever include long vacations to tropical islands, fancy new cars, expensive clothes, financial stability and physical comfort, so is His plan really what I want to seek?)
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I’m always looking out for you.
Untrue.
I’m looking to make a fool of you.
God has so much for you, I admit, but don’t worry…
If you stick with me you’ll never know.
Everything you read in the poem that was in italics are the lies that Satan places in my heart to lead me away from the life God has in store for me. I allow myself to believe these lies and it keeps me from forgiveness, from serving, from love...
What lies are you believing? What part of God's plan for your life are you refusing?