On Humility...

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor." (1 Peter 5:5-6, NLT)

Just wanted to kick off some thoughts here... It's amazing to me the amount of pride I see among leaders in the church today - and it manifests itself in so many ways: control, territorialism, elitism, just to name a few. I haven't been doing the church plant thing for very long, but I know I'll be susceptible to those one day, as well. However, although I may not struggle with those areas, I have my own little "pride stash" that needs to be brought to the surface and done away with. My constant reminder to myself is that GOD HATES PRIDE. There it is. No "if's, and's, or but's" about it. He simply can't stand it. He opposes, or is strongly against (who wants God to be "strongly against" them??), the proud; however, He gives grace, or works on behalf of, those who are humble. And His admonition to us is to "humble ourselves." Notice that He doesn't tell us to pray for it - no, He says, "Just do it." Wow. There are alot of things that we cannot do on our own... God says that this isn't one of them. "Humble yourself."