pride

Don’t Be True to Yourself

July 4, 2022 by Tim Sherfy

For most of my life, I’ve heard people say we should be authentic and be our true selves. This sounds like good advice, but it’s the worst advice a follower of Jesus could ever follow. To be true to yourself stands in stark contrast to how we are called to live. It is prideful, putting our feelings and preferences ahead of God’s. The advice isn’t far removed from the way the serpent tempted Eve.

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He convinced her there was a better way than the one prescribed by God. The devil deceived Eve into believing she could be more than she was. It was the desire to be something more, something she believed to be truer to who she was that she shared with Adam. The rest is the unfortunate history of the fall of man and the source of all our problems today.

Full of Pride

March 18, 2021 by Tim Sherfy

Every follower of Jesus should be full of pride. Of course, our pride looks different from that of the world. Our pride is in the all-powerful, all-holy, all-loving God of the universe. Pride is only a bad thing if we place it in the wrong sources. But we have Jesus. We serve the King of Kings and I’m proud of that.

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I am proud to follow the only One who will never let me down, the One who is the answer to the world’s problems, and the One who saved me from the desolation I deserve. That He knows my name and would care enough to call me to Himself is awesome. There is nothing in this world I could ever achieve that could compare to that.

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Criticism is a Cancer

August 2, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

I heard Pastor Craig Groeschel say in a recent message, “When emotions are high, wisdom is low.” How true. When we let our emotions rule the day, we are destined to say or do something we will regret. Nowhere is this more evident than in our conversations with other people. Too often we find ourselves being criticized for something or we are the ones doing the criticizing. Criticism is a cancer that should be eradicated from the life of every follower of Jesus. Our default interaction with anyone should be that of encouragement (Ephesians 4:29-32).

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Humans, as a rule, love to criticize. Whether from a place of pride or as an act of defense, criticism spills from our lips easily and without warning. Scripture contains many warnings against using criticism, but we have either forgotten or perhaps choose to ignore those parts of God’s Word.

The Same Power

October 2, 2017 by Tim Sherfy

Jeremy Camp has written a song titled, “The Same Power”. It reminds us the same power that raised Jesus from the grave lives in us. How often do we live as if this is true? We spend our days trying to solve problems in our own strength. We never want to be seen as incapable or weak. Our image often seems to be our primary concern. Jesus said He is glorified through our weakness. Indeed, it is only when we humble ourselves enough to say we can’t do it on our own that His power is allowed to manifest itself in our lives.

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He longs to fill and equip us with His strength but gives us the option to accept it or not. He leaves it up to us to decide if we will call upon the power residing within us through His Spirit, or choose to attempt to conquer this world on our own.

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We are Not a Humble People

August 24, 2017 by Tim Sherfy

We are not, by nature, a humble people. We desire to be praised and honored. At times, we even seek it. At the very least, we maintain a deep and sometimes hidden desire to be recognized and known. Our tendency to pursue selfish pleasures over the needs of others is rampant. God forgive us for having our focus on ourselves instead of others. Forgive us for not keeping our eyes on You.

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Our preoccupation with self is destroying our lives, our purpose, and our sense of peace. If we would put Jesus first in our lives, if we would live lives looking like Him, we would be fulfilled and joyful. Alas, we are not a humble people. Humility seems to always lay just beyond our grasp.