Tuesday 9/30/14

Tuesday’s Recap summarizes the previous evening’s Pizza and Prayer. If you couldn’t join us last night, or if for some strange reason you can’t remember what happened (amnesia?), here’s what you missed:

Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also for those of others.
Have in you the same attitude
that is also in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:3-8

This reading comes from Sunday night's Second Reading from Mass, the Letter from Saint Paul to the Philippians. It deals with two concepts that we all need help with, myself included: pride and humility.

Being proud, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. It is good to take pride in your work and be proud of your accomplishments. It is good to be proud that you put forth your best effort, whether that best effort be in schoolwork, athletics, or some other activity.

The problem with pride comes when we become too focused on ourselves, and not focused enough on God. Because, if we really think about it, all of our gifts and talents and accomplishments come from God. We would be nothing without Him. We would accomplish nothing without Him. Pride separates us from God. And that is exactly what sin is. Sin is when we miss the mark and create a separation between ourselves and God.

Humility, on the other hand, points us back to God and other people. With humility, we stop focusing on ourselves, and instead focus on what God wants. A good way to think about pride and humility is from a favorite quote of mine: “Pride is all about YOUR glory; humility is all about GOD’S glory.”

Saint Augustine called pride the mother of all sin. He believed that many of the sins we commit stem directly from having too much pride. Think about some stories from the Bible, for instance. It was pride that caused Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; pride that caused Cain to kill his brother Abel; pride that caused Lucifer to fall from God’s grace.

The reading tonight gives us a perfect example of humility – Jesus Christ. Jesus, who was fully God, was humble in his actions on Earth. He had every right to show off and brag. After all, he truly is the best; He is God. He could have walked around saying, “Look at me, I can walk on water. Look at me, I can turn a couple of fish and some loaves of bread into a meal for thousands.” But he didn’t do that. Instead, he pointed people towards his Heavenly Father. In all of his actions, Jesus pointed people towards God’s Kingdom.

We are called to do the same. We should be pointing others towards God with our actions. We should be focusing our attention on Him, rather than on ourselves. We should be giving God the glory, thanking Him for our gifts, and showing others that our accomplishments were made possible because of God.

We are all proud in different ways. Some of us think we deserve more respect. Some of us think we deserve more popularity. Some of us think we deserve more fame, or more money. We think we are better, smarter, prettier, more athletic, and holier than other people in our lives. But the truth of the matter is, we are not the best. There is always going to be someone else who is better than us.

Take a moment to reflect on the areas of your life where you need more humility. How are you too proud in your life? How can you use your actions to point others towards God, rather than yourself?


Father, give me the humility
which realizes its ignorance,
admits its mistakes,
recognizes its needs,
welcomes advice,
and accepts rebukes.
Help me always to praise
rather than criticize,
to encourage rather than to disparage,
to build rather than to destroy,
and to think of people at their best
rather than at their worst.


The playlist:
How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
O Praise Him – Crowder
Empty Me – Jeremy Camp
The Heart of Worship – Matt Redman
My Desire – Jeremy Camp
Amazed By You – Steve Angrisano
Our God – Chris Tomlin
Somewhere In The Middle – Casting Crowns
Give Me Your Eyes – Brandon Heath
This Is Amazing Grace – Phil Wickham
You Can Have Me – Sidewalk Prophets