| Pastor's
Pen
by Buzz Dahlen Life is “funny” some times. Not funny, as in ha ha, but funny as in peculiar and strange. Strange things are happening all the time. The world seems to be dyslexic. Look at all the backward things that happen in our society. On my mind today is a number of different things that continue to go on and not only do we let them continue to go on, some of them we even support. We have to stop and ask ourselves, “Why do we let this stuff continue to happen?” Divorce, abortion, alcohol consumption and drug use… Just four things that we have accepted in our society as a natural part of life or something that we really cannot do anything about. There are many other things that also are going in the wrong direction and we seem to be doing very little to change the direction. Teen sexual activity, underage alcohol consumption, teen violence and there is domestic violence, adultery, too many kinds of child abuse, pornography and the list goes on and on. Do not get me wrong, there are many trying to combat teen drug and alcohol use, but the problem continues to grow. Ask yourself, “Why?” There is a saying, “If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem.” Lately, I have been thinking about this saying and asking myself, “what am I supposed to be doing to help solve the problem?” I cannot say that I have a definitive answer yet, but I am asking the question more often. Most of the time I get stuck at, “Which problem should I try to help solve?” There are so many problems, I wonder what, if anything I could do to be a part of the solution. It is not easy, but there has to be an answer. Maybe, like so many things, we first have to admit that there is a problem. God told His people, when they were having problems, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 2:14 God shows them what the problem is in His statement… pride. “If my people… will humble themselves.” Could this be true? Could all that is going on be the symptoms of one problem? Could we be too proud to admit that our problem is our pride? Solomon had a few thoughts about pride: When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. A man's pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. Proverbs 11:2, 13:10, 16:18 & 29:23 Think about it, can a person be too proud to say, “I’m sorry?” Can a person be too proud to forgive someone? Can a person be too proud to take back something they said? Can a person be too proud to admit that they were wrong? Can a person be too proud to let someone else be the leader? Can a person be too proud to recognize his or her own mistake? Can a person be too proud to be honest? Can a person be too proud to ask God for help? We all have these symptoms, maybe the problem is, we are just too proud. Do you find yourself in a situation that you should not be in but you are too proud to admit it? Think about all the situations you have found yourself in before. Think about how better it would turned out had you only humbled yourself… We all sin, we all stumble, we all make mistakes, we all… don’t let your pride keep you sinning, stumbling and causing you to make the same mistakes over and over again, like a terrible merry-go-round that just keeps going. If we are ever going to see a solution to the problems in our world, we have to stop the merry-go-round. How is this for a thought? Pride makes the world go round humility stops the merry-go-round! |
 |
