SEEING OTHERS AS WE SHOULD
A man dressed as Napoleon went to see a psychiatrist at the urging of his wife. "What's your problem?" the doctor asked.
"I have no problem," the man replied. "I'm one of the most famous people in the world. I have a great army behind me. I have all the money I'll ever need, and I live in great luxury."
"Then why are you here?"
"It's because of my wife," the man said. "She thinks she's Mrs. Smith."
Pride tends to do two things with us. It causes us to see ourselves as more important than what we really are. That's why Paul wrote, "...Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought..." (Rom. 12:3, NIV).
But pride also causes us to see other people as less important than what they are. Someone has described us as having a "crab mentality." The term refers to a pot of crabs in which one tries to escape over the side, but is relentlessly pulled down by the others in the pot. As humans, we often act the same way. If we can't be somebody great, we can at least pull down others around us so that we look better by comparison!
In the Corinthian church, there was a lot of competition involving spiritual gifts. Those who had the more prominent or public gifts, such as the ability to preach or the ability to speak in different languages, regarded themselves as superior to those who held what they viewed as "less significant" gifts. Paul says, though:
"On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor....But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other." (I Cor. 12:22-25, NIV).
May God help us not only to ourselves as He sees us, but to see others around us as He sees them as well.
Have a great day!
Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina
To GOD Be The Glory
To God be the glory, great things He has done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
A man dressed as Napoleon went to see a psychiatrist at the urging of his wife. "What's your problem?" the doctor asked.
"I have no problem," the man replied. "I'm one of the most famous people in the world. I have a great army behind me. I have all the money I'll ever need, and I live in great luxury."
"Then why are you here?"
"It's because of my wife," the man said. "She thinks she's Mrs. Smith."
Pride tends to do two things with us. It causes us to see ourselves as more important than what we really are. That's why Paul wrote, "...Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought..." (Rom. 12:3, NIV).
But pride also causes us to see other people as less important than what they are. Someone has described us as having a "crab mentality." The term refers to a pot of crabs in which one tries to escape over the side, but is relentlessly pulled down by the others in the pot. As humans, we often act the same way. If we can't be somebody great, we can at least pull down others around us so that we look better by comparison!
In the Corinthian church, there was a lot of competition involving spiritual gifts. Those who had the more prominent or public gifts, such as the ability to preach or the ability to speak in different languages, regarded themselves as superior to those who held what they viewed as "less significant" gifts. Paul says, though:
"On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor....But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other." (I Cor. 12:22-25, NIV).
May God help us not only to ourselves as He sees us, but to see others around us as He sees them as well.
Have a great day!
Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina
To GOD Be The Glory
To God be the glory, great things He has done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.
Refrain
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Refrain
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
Refrain
Morning Smile
A grandfather was walking past his young granddaughter's room one night when he saw her kneeling beside her bed, with head bowed and hands folded, repeating the alphabet.
"What are you doing?" he asked her.
She explained, "I'm saying my prayers, but I couldn't think of just what I wanted to say. So I'm just saying all the letters of the alphabet, and God can put them together however he thinks best."
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