Friday! Proverbs!
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18 NIV
This must've been my Mum's favourite proverb... or maybe I just needed to hear it often!
This is NOT saying we shouldn't reflect with satisfaction on good work, be pleased about completing, acheiving, passing, getting stuff done.
Even winning.
If we have a good competition, and we've enjoyed the battle then win or lose is OK.
This haughty spirit though literally means "up on a platform". When I elevate me above you, when my winning is about you losing, when my acheivement is all about me, me elevated, and nothing about the Creator who gave me the skills and gifts, nothing about the other people who have shaped & taught & encoruraged & given me opportunities...or the cost to others, the environment, or just the goodness of where I was born, and the times in which we live...
So YES do good work, write great books, make great music, food, art, businesses, buildings, coffee... serve well...grow, learn, & yes, get satisfaction from that.
#somethingtochewon
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16 NLT OK so this is an English translation of a letter Paul wrote to a church 2,000 years ago, but does it feel like Paul is wrestling with words and ideas to try and capture all of who Jesus is, of who God is, of how does it work that the walking around Jesus was also there before the beginning of the beginning of everything we can see and touch and know. Not only that but Jesus was somehow the agent of everything that has been made in the physical, social, and spiritual. Jesus is at the centre of it all. Walking around Jesus. Cooking fish for breakfast Jesus. Heart aching as he ...
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