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Danger Zones

Danger Zones

Words of Faith 7-9-19

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2019

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Galatians 6

[3] If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.   [4] Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,   

 

       Bear one another's burdens.  Okay.  But there are some traps that are easy to fall into, especially when we are seeking to bear burdens and restore gently.

      The context here is fulfilling the law of love.  We are to be burden bearers.  We are to help one another especially with those burdens that are more than one person should ever carry.  But sometimes conceit and pride get in the way.  Paul points out these danger zones.

       The first danger zone is conceit.  Conceit is thinking oneself to be more important or better than one is.  This is an attitude that leads one to be intolerant of error in others and causes one to think he is above failure.  That is a dangerous place!  This is an attitude that stands in the way of helping others.  When we start to believe we are above others, then we may neglect to bear another's burdens.  Paul says this is a form of self-deceit because measured by God's standards, no one amounts to anything.

       The remedy for self-conceit is to test one's own actions. Paul used the same word here that is found in 1 Peter 1:7. These (trials) have come so that your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  That is some serious testing.  

        Paul wrote to the Romans: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you (12:3).  That is the goal: sober judgment.

       Rather than compare oneself with others, we should step back and take an objective look at ourselves. Then one can take pride in himself over what God has done in and through his life.  This is not the word for sinful pride, rather, it is the word for personal exultation. There is joy in discovering what God has set us in place to do something and then seeing success in that plan. 

       A second error that might keep a believer from bearing the burdens of another Christian actually occurs when we keep comparing ourselves with others. This can be harmful both in a positive and negative sense.  We may think, "I am doing better than they are" leading to the very conceit Paul just warned against.  We may also think, "I am unable to do anything because everyone else is much better than me.”  Either way, we fall into error. 

      The answer is really found in the simple truth that each believer has a task from the Lord and is responsible only to the Lord for doing it. To use others as a comparison is a kind of escape.

      So how is your self-awareness?  How is your sober judgment of yourself? 

 

       Lord God, give me a sober judgment of my life and my character.  Show me the ways that I have failed and the ways that I have been faithful.  Show me the ways I need to grow and the ways that I have grown already.  Most of all, keep me ready to bear the burdens of others as you lead.  Keep me from pride and conceit.  Keep me from self-condemnation.  In Jesus' Name.

 

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, and our website, and our church app, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.  

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