25th April 2021
LOVE DETERMINANTS
David Abankwah
(SERIES: Day 5)
Love…..is not puffed up…..
-1 Corinthians 13:4 | NKJV
To be puffed up is to be proud or arrogant. Arrogance or pride has two main definitions: ¹exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one’s own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner; ²having or showing the insulting attitude of people who believe that they are better, smarter, or more important than one another. Before the character of humility can be shown, it
must first be inherent (Matthew 11:29). The Bible makes it vivid to us that, it is the heart that produces all manner of attitudes (Mark 7:21; Luke 6:45). Before you can exhibit the character of pride or arrogance, you have developed it in the heart already.
Sometimes when things start from the inside, we don’t normally pay much attention to them. We wait till it has fully developed in us and we have suffered the adverse consequence of it before we seek for its remedy. You will bear with me that, before you started behaving arrogantly towards your Pastors, tutors, boss, or spouse when you became of age, you had already committed it against your parents or guardians when you were young. Apart from pride which is not a characteristic of love, God also hates those who are puffed up (Proverbs 6:17).
When you are puffed up, you want to tell God that, you are bigger, smarter or more important than Him. It is also an indirect way to tell God, ‘I am prepared enough to fight you. I don’t care whatever you do to me. I am waiting to see if you can bring me down.’ This is why the Bible says that God humbles or abases the proud and elevates or exalts the humble (Luke 18:14). If you want to know what it takes to be humbled, kindly meet Satan and ask him what it feels like and he will tell you about his fall from heaven.
Satan didn’t curtail the early stages of his pride and waited for its maturity. The final product that emanates from the reaction of pride is rebellion. No wonder Satan rebelled against God and was overthrown. Pride will make you lose those you love and those who love you. Make it a point to say sorry when you have to. Don’t wait to be told. Accept your mistakes and apologize as soon as you can. Don’t say something like: ‘You said I am wrong, so sorry.’ Your success lies in your network of relationships. Treat all people well in all manner of humility and cordiality.
•| Prayer Diary |•
¹Lift up prayers for deliverance from the spirit of exaggeration that makes you say or do things in pretences. ²Lift up prayers for deliverance from the Spirit of pride or arrogance that provokes you anytime you are rebuked, corrected, directed or instructed. ³Instead of being puffed up in sin, lift up prayers for humility to increase in the obedience of God’s Word for the attainment of righteousness, holiness, and sanctification. ⁴Lift up prayers for the love that makes one humble enough to live peaceably with all men in the name of Jesus Christ.
Quote
“Many guys exaggerate all in the name of proposal. That is not love, that is lust. Love is not about lies. Love is all about the truth”
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
2 Kings Chapters 19-21
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© 2021 David Abankwah
David Abankwah 