The note before the devotional will be shared today
after the devotional. It's going to be quite long, and as such I don't want it to steal from the value of the message shared below. But I also think I need share it in its unedited form. The devotion is the true heart of even what I want to say further down. But I also don't often speak seriously and critically regarding what I observe around me (I want to say it has been a few years since I last really did this). Without further ado, here the Bible passage from which today's devotional draws. I've added additional verses before and after as it is one of those few that I've had to hold on to regarding this still-ongoing challenge in my life (and not just due to the below devotional):
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
1 Peter 5:6-9, NKJV
How to Combat Pride
“I’m fine.” “I’ve got this.” “It’s my problem—not yours.”
We all want to be known, but sometimes it feels easier to hide behind masks of self-sufficiency. We might tell ourselves that we don’t want to burden others with our problems, but what we’re really saying is that we believe we can (and should) handle everything alone. This may feel self-protective, but it’s a form of pride that isolates and weakens us.
Pride is simply having a view of ourselves and our abilities that doesn’t align with reality. It’s one of the most effective methods the devil uses to isolate us because it makes us believe we’re better off alone.
So how do we combat it? The apostle Peter advises us to “clothe” ourselves in humility (1 Peter 5:5). We do this by caring for others, watching over others, and accepting the authority and wisdom that others offer us (1 Peter 5:1-4). This requires mutual vulnerability, trust, and authenticity.
Treating others with humility teaches us how to respond to Jesus.
Jesus knows what we need, and God wants us to cast our anxieties onto Him—but giving Him our concerns, hurts, hardships, and heartbreaks is an act of vulnerable surrender. We cannot do this unless we first acknowledge our need for Him.
When Peter says to “cast our cares” on God, he’s telling his readers to come openly and honestly to God so that at the proper time, He can deliver them. God opposes anyone who thinks they don’t need Him, but He shows endless grace and love to those who seek Him (1 Peter 5:5).
So take a few moments right now, and reflect on your current concerns. What do you need to bring to God? Visualize handing Him all of your worries, and envision receiving His peace in return.
https://bible.com/bible/59/1pe.5.7.ESV
Note after sharing the devotional: I wanted to let you get the the substance of the devotional first before I share my piece. Before I go into it, I want to first say that I fully agree with the above devotional. It's been one of a few staple verses that has been put into my mind ever since my early Vineyard days, verses seven and eight both from the fifth chapter of Peter's first letter. Being aware of the enemy - first that there is an enemy of our God and of our souls, and second that he is relentlessly trying to destroy God's creation which includes you and me - is a very important step, one that even now I still forget on my worst days. But what this does is two-fold: first, it helps to separate our enemy from our God, and helps us to remember that our Lord is good, and the devil is bad; second, it helps us then to troubleshoot our mental, emotional, and spiritual states when hard things are happening. Cast your anxieties on the Lord, for He cares for you. It's also an affirmation; it doesn't tell us to pretend that we don't have troubles or cares or anxieties, and it also tells us there's something we can do about it, namely, bring it to God.
I've been posting sermons from my church ever since I started attending back in 2020. They are great sermons. While there may be times (or subtopics) where I disagree, I still agree with about 95% of what is preached. What also helps is that, for the first time in my life, I actually have a relationship with my pastor. He's been one of many supports for my love and I during our dating/courtship phase, and during our current challenges he's been someone we've turned to as we try to make sense of the things that are making our challenges difficult.
My love and I have also had good connections with multiple other members in our church, and for this we are grateful. However, as we have been going further and further through these challenges, I'm starting to find what I believe to be two fundamental flaws/faults, not specific to our church, but specific to a category of people, particularly in how they think regarding others who have had difficult times.
A few years back, I made a
landmark announcement about my life, and even to this day, I still stand by it. I know who I'm voting for in November, and I have zero qualms about that decision. But that doesn't mean all of my views have changed. In fact, not only have my views on psychology and understanding where other people are at not changed, but I have, through walking out this experience, shown my love why some of the things her family and community have preached is wrong. She has been experiencing the same trials and tribulations I have (alongside her), and she herself is coming to see how the adults in her life who have taught her all the values and beliefs she has had don't care for her struggles, even when some still claim to care. She has grown tremendously in her understanding of psychology as it relates to her, whereas she was previously blind to it. Similarly, she has also pointed out to me how certain members in our church have reacted to her just being her, ranging from polite avoidance to outright disgust (something she was very much aware of even before I came on the scene).
Simply put, the nerve that the above devotional hit in me is the truth that self-sufficiency is sin. And yet, I've heard it preached (not just by our pastor but by others as well, including my love's own family) that we need to "just trust God" and "grow up and deal with it," completing refusing to hear about the struggles that we encounter. Or, if they do hear it, it's only to do a quick fix so we'll get out of their hair. And in the case of one individual, their demand to know things pushes well beyond the boundaries of reasonable privacy, to the point that they fight back and lecture when we confront them of their sin; meanwhile, if we were to turn the tables, they would come back against us regarding the same exact issue.
Most of the people at our church don't know about these things because of their mentality: it's not my problem, so don't come and bother me with it because it brings me down. Besides, it sounds like you're not trusting God. It's on you to build up your faith so you can deal with your own problems yourself. Translation: you need to grow up and be self-sufficient. Granted, I do think every church I've ever been to in the past has had people with a similar type of mentality, but not to the point where they unilaterally would necessarily side with the aggravators over us.
The point remains: it is not God's will, desire, or plan for us to be self-sufficient, and it's something I've had to fight for my whole life, because my motivation to be self-sufficient is based on the hope that I can someday have what everyone else has been blessed to have. I do actually think conservatives tend to miss the point on this. Yes, we are blessed to live in a country where freedom is one of its founding principles. But the Bible has its own definition of
freedom (courtesy of
GotQuestions.org):
The Bible states emphatically in Galatians 5:1 that believers are free in Christ: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). Before Jesus died on a cross, God’s people lived under a detailed system of laws that served as a moral compass to guide their lives. The Law, while powerless to grant salvation or produce true freedom, nevertheless pointed the way to Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:19–24). Through His sacrificial death, Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law, setting believers free from the law of sin and death. God’s laws are now written in our hearts through the Spirit of God, and we are free to follow and serve Christ in ways that please and glorify Him (Romans 8:2–8). In a nutshell, this is the definition of Christian freedom.
But this freedom is not so we can live selfishly, or to neglect others in need:
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13, NKJV
I was aware of verse 9 in the fifth chapter of Peter's first letter almost immediately after learning verses 7 and 8, but it wasn't until more recently that I became familiar with the 6th verse:
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 1 Peter 5:6, NKJV
I'd like to say that it was because being humble is easy, but it's not. It's just that I've had enough experiences having been humbled that I understand on a deep level that it's not the end of the world. Obeying this particular verse actually makes dealing with anxiety a lot easier. In fact, I have found that humility and anxiety cannot and do not coexist. Similarly, self-sufficiency means relying on one's own strength. The Bible makes it clear we need to rely on God's strength.
[Remember: the "I can do all things" part is only possible due to the "through Christ who strengthens me" part, and cannot be twisted to try to make someone else do what you want. Therefore, if it's related to a difficult or even impossible situation, don't expect it to happen if it's not Christ doing the strengthening.]
I know I still need work on doing this better myself, so I'll preach the following to myself and to you at the same time: sometimes we need to put ourselves aside and listen to someone else's issues, so long as we use Godly discernment and determine that the person genuinely needs help, instead of just brushing it off as "someone needs attention." Sometimes it is that, and sometimes it's something legit. I do think my church (and conservatives in general) does a great job with focusing on developing their own faith and helping others in this regard, but not so great at stepping in to intervene when someone is legitimately going through a tough time. (Again, Godly discernment and not fleshly discernment required to determine said legitimacy.)
Finally, the pride of life is a sin. Cast it off and live fully for Jesus instead (also preaching to myself and you at the same time).
For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 1 John 2:16, NKJV
