Author: marquitabp

The Problem with Egos

Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

I love Beyonce’s “Ego”. But just in reflection of some recent happenings, it just made me realize how much I can’t stand arrogant and selfish people! You know that person who always has something to say and thinks that everybody wants to hear what they have to say. The person who believes that their way is the right way and refuses to see it anyone else’s way—yep, that’s who I’m talking about. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having a unique opinion about something, just don’t force it on me. I also just realized that this is something I have been guilty of in the past; now, I give you my opinion and you can do whatever you wish with it—I’ll listen to yours too, no matter how wrong I think it may be, lol. 😀

The problem with having an ego problem is that it really is only misguided and foolish pride, selfishness, and arrogance. The saying “Too much of anything is bad” has never been wrong. Too much pride leaves you looking, excuse my bluntness, stupid. Okay, there is nothing wrong with being CONFIDENT in your abilities; there is a difference. Self-assured versus overbearing sense of self-importance or superiority to others—definitely different. I think it must hurt more for arrogant and prideful people to fall; I imagine that fall is a lot higher and harder than for a humble person.

Many scriptures speak against arrogance, selfishness, and pride (by the way, all are synonyms of egotistical). For example Hannah prayed in 1 Samuel 2:3, “Stop acting so proud and haughty! Don’t speak with such arrogance! For the LORD is a God who knows what you have done; he will judge your actions.” In James 4:16 bragging and arrogance are considered evil. I don’t know why this was on my mind, but if you suffer from what I like to call ‘smellingyourownfunkitis’, I suggest you take these pills every day until you recover or else you will get hit with a case of ‘gettingknockedbacktoreality’ by life.

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2

Distractions Everywhere

But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” Luke 10:40

Hey folks, I apologize for the lack of devotions lately. Being sick is not something I enjoy and this week has been tough. Fortunately, I feel somewhat better and I have been able to stay focused a little better than I had been able to the last two days. Obviously, I allowed how I was feeling to distract me from my responsibilities. But don’t we all do that sometimes?

Referencing the scripture above and the context of Martha’s statement, Jesus and the disciples were heading to Jerusalem (Luke 10:38). They stopped in Martha and Mary’s village, and stayed there. Martha immediately busied herself with cooking, preparing and serving while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. Martha proceeds to complain in the above verse, but notice she was distracted. Jesus didn’t tell her to cook!

Distractions can come in any form. You can even get distracted by volunteering for something—like Martha, who took it upon herself to make a big dinner—that was not even asked of you! The only real way that we can overcome distractions is by seeing them for what they are, casting them down, and asking God to continue to reveal them to us. The sooner we recognize them for what they are, the sooner we can redirect our thinking and focus on whatever it is that we truly need to be doing!

“I’m saying this for your benefit, not to restrict you. I’m showing you how to live a noble life of devotion to the Lord without being distracted by other things.” 1 Corinthians 7:35