Swallow Your Pride

Think of offenders as sandpapers. They may rub and scratch you painfully but eventually you end up smooth and the sandpapers worn out.

Do not say, “I deserve better treatment!” Nobody deserves it, all of us being sinners (Romans 3:23, Ecclesiastes 7:20). Instead of demanding it, why not give it to others? You owe it to God. He has been most merciful and most patient with your shortcomings.

¹⁹ Remember this, my brothers… Be slow to rouse your temper. JAMES 1 jb

⁶ Don’t do anything out of an injured pride. SIRACH 10

¹⁰ Pride only breeds quarrels. PROVERBS 13

If you notice your pride swelling, ask yourself: How would the God of peace (Romans 16:20) act if He were in my place right now? Why am I angry? 1 Corinthians 13:5 says love is not easily angered. Sirach 10:6 says, “Don’t get angry with someone for every little thing he does wrong.” 

Psychologists say pride is really a wicked cover-up of our failure to cope with our own impatience or wicked deed, or of our failure to cope with a personal hurt, frustration or insecurity.

We have yet to hear of a person who choked to death for swallowing his pride.

Be Wise

⁵¹ As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Y’shua resolutely set out for Jerusalem. ⁵² And He sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for Him; ⁵³ but the people there did not welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When the disciples John and James saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” ⁵⁵ But Y’shua turned and rebuked the two; and they went to another village. LUKE 9

Y’shua said, “Can you not see what spirit is leading you to speak that way? Lucifer is using the Samaritans to make you react in a wicked fashion. The Son of Man did not come to destroy but to save life.

“Tell Me, did you create the village and its people? Certainly not! If their Creator let them stand, why do you desire to destroy them? Remember Nineveh, which was so wicked that your heavenly Father could not find one elect there? Your Father did not destroy Nineveh; instead, He commissioned Jonah to preach repentance to its people. Suppose your brother were stricken with insanity, would you kill him for saying or doing something evil? Certainly not! You would probably find cure for his affliction, but not kill him!

“You are angry because the village people did not welcome us and they did not sell us bread. Why? Are they your slaves that they must conform to your every desire? Did you give them their wheat or help them reap their wheat? Certainly not, for you are strangers to them.

“Why did you not say instead, ‘Shall it please you if we pray for these people?’ For that is what Abel did when his brother Cain was slaying him. That is what Abraham did when the Pharaoh took Sarah for his wife. That is what Zechariah did when he was being slain at the Temple. If the prophets of God prayed for their persecutors and endured patiently and meekly, what must you who are worthy of hell do?”

John and James bowed their heads and wept. They said, “Rabbi, we have sinned for entertaining sinful thoughts against the village people. May God have mercy on us.” Then they went back to the village and humbled themselves before the Samaritans. They confessed their sin to them and sought forgiveness. (Gospel of Barnabas)

Repair the wrong. Got angry? Called your neighbor names? That qualifies you as a murderer. Take advantage of the time God is giving you to correct your mistake. Do it with urgency.  

²⁶ Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. EPHESIANS 4 nkjv

²⁴ Do not quarrel on the way. GENESIS 45

²⁵ Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still on your way or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer [jailer], and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶ I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have fully paid [what is due to] the last penny. MATTHEW 5

¹⁰ For we all must appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, that one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 2 CORINTHIANS 5