"Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression."(Psalms 19:12-13 NKJV)
When was the last time you prayed, "Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins"?
Those secret faults, are the sins of anger, unforgiveness, judgment, bitterness that we have hiding in our hearts; those things we've shoved down so far and that we have kept hidden so long we believe they make us what we are today!
But the "presumptuous sins" should give us pause! In reading the definition I'm aware we find its synonyms to be acceptable! We may not like people that display those traits, but they are normally successful and success we admire!
pre·sump·tu·ous
prəˈzəm(p)(t)SH(o͞o)əs/
- Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: self-confident
Synonyms: arrogant, audacious, bold, cheeky*, conceited, confident, contumelious, egotistic, foolhardy, forward, fresh, insolent, overconfident, overfamiliar, overweening, pompous, presuming, pretentious, pushy, rash, rude, self-assertive, self-assured, self-satisfied, smug, supercilious, uppity
Antonyms: humble, modest
Being presumptuous is not good thing in God's eyes; quite the opposite!
"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time," (I Peter 5:6 NKJV)
"A man’s pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor." (Proverbs 29:23 NKJV)
The world does not think highly of humility or modesty and we in the church are right there with them! We assess humility with weakness and modesty as unsuccessful. We may like the modest man, but do we strive to be like him? Hardly ever.
mod·est
ˈmädəst/
adjective
- 1.unassuming or moderate in the estimation of one's abilities or achievements."he was a very modest man, refusing to take any credit for the enterprise"
synonyms: self-effacing, self-deprecating, humble, unpretentious, unassuming, unpresuming, unostentatious, unshowy, unflashy;
When was the last time you admired a man who was unassuming?
"He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:3-5 NKJV)
Jesus was everything the world rejects and we must reject the world to be like Him!
Actually, we are not to be like Him we are called to BE Him for the world! If we are to be His hands and His feet; to be His voice; show His love then we must humble ourselves; empty ourselves, so that He can fill us!
LORD Jesus, cleanse me from secret faults and make me blameless. Show me my presumptuous sins so that I may repent and they will have no dominion over me! Let me understand my errors! In humility and modesty I surrender to You knowing I have nothing to boast in, but I can boast in You! Thank You, Father for Your mercy and Your grace!
Even so - MARANATHA!
From 12/15/15
No comments:
Post a Comment