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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Midnight ride Paul Revere

I'm going to talk a few moments today about a sin, a weakness which, to some degree, effects all of us because we are "human beans" and as such, we are possessed of a lot of desires, ambitions and aspirations. And, because we are so possessed, we continually have to guard against allowing any of our desires, et al, to control us. So, I guess that what we're going to consider here is the subject of "pride" and how we need to combat that human trait.

Now "pride" is something that some say is a complex and difficult subject to study and I suppose that's so when you're dealing with about any of our emotions. But, let's not let its complexity keep us from learning a spiritual lesson about it today.

You see, I believe that almost everyone has within them the desire to do good things and to be recognized for having done them. I think that it's human nature to like receiving a pat on the back, an "atta boy," if you will. I also think that what the Scriptures warn us about is the doing of those "good things" for the purpose "to be seen of men" like the Pharisees of Jesus' day. (Mt. 23:5)

Yes, we like to be recognized, don't we? And you know something else? It bothers us when we do something and someone else gets the credit. I don't care who you are, when that occurs we resent it. But, we have to rein those thoughts in and remember that the world doesn't always treat us fair, does it? That's one of the traits of this world, that it's not fair and it's not just.

As a little illustration of worldly unfairness, let me ask you a question: Are you familiar with a man by the name of Israel Bissell? (No, he's not a Jewish vacuum cleaner.) Israel did something that was far greater in scope and more important to our nation's history than another person, yet that other person got all the glory. Got all the praise, even to the extent that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem about him. Yes, I'm talking about Paul Revere and his "midnight ride."

Now here's the irony of that event. Paul only rode a distance of 19 miles giving out his warning about the British coming, but Israel rode from Watertown, Mass. to Philadelphia, Pa. giving the same warning. A total of 345 miles that took 4 days to accomplish. His standard warning to all of the towns he passed through was "To arms, to arms, the war has begun."

But, who got all the glory? Who got all the recognition in our history books? It's surmised that the reason for this was that Paul Revere rhymes better than Israel Bissell. Who knows if that's the reason or not, it's just a known fact that just about everyone knows the name of Paul Revere who made a 19 mile ride to alert people and pretty much no one knows the guy who rode 345 miles doing the same thing. And furthermore, I think that a lot of us can sympathize with Israel, can't we?

But, you know what? I don't see either Paul or Israel doing what they did for the purpose of being famous or being glorified by men. That it happened to one of them doesn't mean that he did it for that reason. And that thought can take us on into the lesson part of our study.

To me, the important thing to keep in mind as we do our "good deeds" is: why we are doing them. A great principle regarding this is seen in the Apostle Paul's words to the Ephesians when he was talking about "servants and masters." The basic principle seen there is: that whatever we do, whatever "service" we render, we do it "as to the Lord, and not to men." (Eph. 6:5-7) If "men" notice it and show appreciation, well okay, so be it. If they don't, well okay, so be it. The important thing is - God knows it!

My understanding of the "pride" condemned by the Scriptures is that sort of "pride" that inflates our egos. The Bible refers to that sort of "pride" as being "puffed up." (Get it? Inflates - puffed up) John tells us that one of the three major categories of sin is the "pride of life." (1John 2:16) That tells me that this is something that I need to guard against. That I need to exercise control over. That if I don't, then I'm committing sin by having an "inordinate" type of "pride" by having my ego "puffed up."

Here's another reason that we have to guard against a "puffed up" type of "pride." In 1 Cor. 4:6 we read where it can cause us to think that we're better than others. That, to me, is the epitome of someone that's "puffed up." That the "vanity" of man allows him to revel in the praise of people telling him how great and wonderful he is and then to actually believe that he IS better than the "common" folk.

Remember Israel Bissell's message to the citizens along his route? - "To arms..." I think that we can apply that warning to ourselves as we consider how to combat our natural desires and ambitions. We are at war, much like Paul described his war, with ourselves. With our mind, in that we fight to keep control of our desires so that we don't let them cause us to sin.

James (4:1) pretty much echoed Paul's words when he talked about our "lusts that war in your members (within ourselves)." Have you ever considered that this is what Paul is talking about in Eph. 6:12 where he's telling us who we're at war with? That we're not fighting a war as if we were fighting against a physical army. We're at war with the "darkness" of this world. Against the spirits of wickedness. Now let me ask you, who is the leader of those forces of darkness and evil? If you said, "Satan" you're entirely correct. Nothing would please him more than to seduce us into allowing our "lusts" to control us rather than the other way around.

In closing, I'm going to borrow a phrase from the Apostle Paul to describe a condition we can find ourselves in if we don't control our "pride." That descriptive phrase is: "Vainly puffed up by your fleshly mind." (Col. 2:18) How do we combat getting in that situation? It's a very simple formula. It is our "arms" that we take to fight our inner war and we find it in 1 Cor. 13:4, "Love." If "love" is in our heart (mind) it will cause us to be long-suffering when someone else gets the recognition instead of us. We'll be kind to others. Not think we're better than them. We won't be envious of others and I love the last line of that verse where it says that "love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up."

Ron Covey

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