Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Daily Bible Readings: October 3-9

Monday – Daniel 4.28-37
Meditation: Thomas Watson says, “Pride is the mother of hell.”  Pride is an obvious sin that all Christians know is to be avoided.  However, pride is something that is a struggle for all.  This week we will look at pride to see the heinous nature of this sin.  Pray that God would reveal to you areas of pride in your life.

Tuesday – Daniel 4.28-30; 1 Corinthians 4.6-7
Meditation: Nebuchadnezzar was a man who was filled with pride.  He looked at all he had accomplished and credited himself instead of giving glory to God.  Pride at its core is vertical in nature.  When we fail to recognize God’s hand in our successes but rather take all the credit for ourselves, we are being proud.  We must realize that everything we have is a gift from God, and he is the ultimate source of all our successes not ourselves.

Wednesday – Daniel 4.31-33; Proverbs 16.5; Proverbs 18:12
Meditation: Living in pride is a great danger.  Nebuchadnezzar learned the hard way that God opposes the proud.  His entire world was stripped from him, and he became like a madman until he learned that God alone was King.  The reason that pride is so dangerous is that God explicitly says the proud person is his enemy.  We do not want God as our enemy.  Thus, let us be wise and forsake pride.

Thursday – Daniel 4.34-37; Isaiah 66.2; 1 Peter 5.5-6
Meditation: What is the cure for a proud heart?  A big helping of humble pie.  Once Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity was restored to him, he immediately confessed that God alone was the ruler of the universe.  He had learned his lesson well.  No longer did Nebuchadnezzar take praise and glory for himself but now extolled the glory of God.  Ask yourself today  if there is any success or accomplishment in your life that you take the credit for?  If so, do not praise yourself but praise God instead.

Friday – Daniel 4.34; Isaiah 40.1-31
Meditation: One way we can promote humility in our lives is by having a view of God’s greatness.  Those in the Bible who encounter the Living God find themselves humbled before his majestic splendor.  So often, pride rises in our hearts because we forget just how great God is.  Today, think about the greatness of God and be humbled before him.

Saturday – Daniel 4.35; Psalm 8.3-4; Ecclesiastes 3.18-20
Meditation:  Another way we can keep pride at bay and promote humility in our lives is by having a proper view of self.  Whenever we begin to think great thoughts about ourselves, we must contemplate just how little and insignificant we are.  Remember that we are made from the dust, and we will one day return to it.  Remember that we are little more than a vapor, here for a moment then gone.  Be humbled because of your own finitude.

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