Think you're "Mr. Wonderful"?

Hubris is the point of vulnerability in us all!  What’s hubris?  It is “excessive pride or self-confidence, arrogance.” We want to believe the wonderful things about ourselves that others say. A great compliment is encouraging.  Caution is in order, however. None of us has life completely mastered nor has any of us conquered every sin.  Young or old, we have blind spots, broken places, and unfinished business in life.  Hubris makes us blind to our brokenness. I cringe when I remember occasions of arrogance in my life. Nothing has cost me more dearly than becoming too confident in my own wisdom and failing to listen – to the Spirit of God and the wisdom of counselors!

Rehoboam, son of King Solomon came to the throne from a prince’s privileged life. Everybody admired him, told him he was wonderful- and he believed it!  After his coronation, the citizens of Israel asked for relief from taxation. Solomon’s building of a great nation had been costly.  Knowing the young king did not have the affection of the people that his father enjoyed, they advised him to go slowly,  "but he rejected the counsel of the elders and asked the young men he’d grown up with who were now currying his favor," (1 Kings 12:8, The Message) "and went with the advice of the younger set, “If you think life under my father was hard, you haven’t seen the half of it. My father thrashed you with whips; I’ll beat you bloody with chains!”  (1 Kings 12:14, The Message)  Is that not the very definition of hubris? A short time later the nation divided, with the northern half rebelling and appointing their own king!

A little success can  be more dangerous than a string of failures. When we are ‘winning’ there are plenty of sycophants that will surround us to remind us of our amazing talents. Governments, corporations, and even churches falter when those leading them start to believe in their own ‘exceptionalism.’ The Lord says: "if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!" (1 Corinthians 10:12, NIV) Paul’s understanding of God’s gifts and his responsibility instructs us well. "Whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace." (1 Corinthians 15:10, NLT)  

Lose hubris, gain humility. “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5, NIV)  Accomplishment will not bring on hubris in that person who knows that he is who he is only who he is because of the grace of God.  When we are impressed with ourselves, this question needs to come to the forefront of our minds: “Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,” Paul wrote, “but in humility consider others better than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3)

Hubris or humility?
What will it be?  

Take the wisdom of Jesus with you today as you meditate on this word from the Word.  

“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4, NIV) 

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“Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire

with God:

But only he who sees takes off

his shoes.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning