![Pride Before The Fall]()
by Macy Tiradoegas | Apr 21, 2016 | Proverbs
“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” -Proverbs 15:22
The most successful people in the world are the ones who seek counsel and know that they can’t do it all on their own.
We have to have trusted people in our life that will be transparently honest, correct us when we need it, and help steer us in the right direction. The longer we take to learn this lesson, the more pain we’ll have to go through to get where we want to go.
Verse 32 says, “Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.”
Naturally we think we know best, assuming our opinion is the right one and that our path is without error. Walking with this train of thought is like walking with blinders on; we can’t see the whole picture. Trying to accomplish everything on our own WE WILL FAIL. We need a broader perspective to to keep ourselves in check.
The key to gaining perspective is humility. Proverbs 15:33 says “humility comes before honor.” Those who humble themselves and ask for council will be rewarded. Their plans will come to pass. God will honor them. If we want to grow, we have to be willing to seek help and accept criticism.
Finally, proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Following our pride, listening only to ourselves, will lead us down the wrong path. Ask God for instruction. Invite wise counsel to weigh in and you will find an abundant life.
As you consider inviting counsel in, ask yourself:
1. Do you need to take the blinders off of anything in your life right now?
2. Have you been unwilling to seek counsel for something in your life and you know you need it?
3. Maybe you’re willing to ask for help, but are you willing to accept criticism?
4. Do you have someone in your life you can trust to help you?
Don’t let pride be the reason you fall; stop trying to figure it all out by yourself. Invite someone in and make a step in the right direction. May we walk in humility with every decision, every word and every action.
by Macy Tiradoegas | Jan 8, 2016 | Proverbs
Proverbs 14:20-21
“The poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends. Whoever depises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.”
Is there really such a thing as friendship free from self-interest? Is it truly possible to love someone without looking for anything return?
We like people when we feel like we can gain something from them, whether that is actual wealth, good social standing, even things that are beneficial, like advice. I’ve never been “rich” (in American standards). But I do know what it’s like to feel used.
I’m a pastor’s kid of fast-growing church, and my family is well liked. For some reason it was “cool” to be close to my family, to be my friend, to get the “in” with the McKinzie family. I realize this is on such a small scale in comparison to many other people, but it’s what I know and how I can relate. I’ve had to grow up a lot of the time questioning whether people were trying to get to know me because of my name or if they really cared about who I was as a person.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we treat people according to their riches. And I use riches beyond just a monetary meaning. We put the “poor” or the “not as cool” in a certain category and we treat them differently. I do.
Love your neighbor, Jesus says. Your neighbors are the people around you. The hip, the nerdy, the rich, the poor. The people next door, the barista at the local coffee shop, the homeless man down the street. These are our neighbors. And WHAT IF we treated the poor man like the rich man? What if we love people not based on what we can get from them, but simply because Jesus loves them and tells us to love them too.
We’re all the same. The poor man wants to be seen, but so does the rich man. We are all so in need of real love, of real friendship.
The next verse is about generosity. Blessed are those who don’t hold on to what they have too tightly. The material things of this world pass away, but how we give and help and love others, that is what is remembered. Are we seeing the needs around us? Are we too concerned with our own problems and our lives or even our own blessings that we forget that there are people who need our help?
God, may you use your word to call us out of selfishness, out of pride, out greed, and into an abundant life of selflessness, humility and generosity.
by Macy Tiradoegas | Dec 25, 2015 | Proverbs
Proverbs 13:15-16
15 A person with good sense is respected;
a treacherous person is headed for destruction.
16 Wise people think before they act;
fools don’t—and even brag about their foolishness.
When you think of someone who you respect, who you admire, who you aspire to be like or learn from, what qualities do they posses?
I’ll guess that person walks in wisdom and is full of integrity. Sure, we might look at celebrities or people who we think are “cool” and want to model ourselves after them, but “cool” now isn’t “cool” tomorrow. It doesn’t last. If we really search our heart and what we know will actually be fulfilling, it’s living the life like the people we most admire: walking in wisdom and being full of integrity.
It might seem fun for a little while to live in sin, act foolishly and even brag about that foolishness. It’s fun to do what everyone else is doing, to experience what the world says you need to experience. “YOLO” right? But it will catch up to you. Bad decisions now have long term consequences. And it’s a slippery slope.
It might be easier to act impulsively and make decisions based off emotion or feeling, but like Solomon says, that ultimately leads to destruction. God has more for us. Wisdom is more satisfying than the greatest riches because it means we’re walking close to God. There is nothing more fulfilling than that. All true wisdom has its foundation in God.
There’s a reason why the one thing Solomon asked God for, above riches, power or fame, was wisdom. And because of that, God blessed Solomon. God has favor on the wise.
It’s easy to tell the difference between someone who walks in wisdom and someone who doesn’t. Wisdom may not be normal, but as Christ followers, we aren’t called to be normal. We’re called to be the exception.
How do we become wise?
- We walk closely with the Lord.
- We think before we act.
- We are slow to speak and slow to become angry.
- We have a consistent prayer life and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us.
by Macy Tiradoegas | Dec 4, 2015 | Proverbs
Proverbs 12:7
“The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.” ESV
“The wicked die and disappear, but the family of the godly stands firm.” NLT
If hope was a tangible thing you could hold, we would be holding it right now after reading this verse.
Life isn’t perfect. We make mistakes and have consequences because of our sin. Sometimes bad things just happen. Things that are so far beyond our control, so incapable of our understanding. We walk through valleys, we go through deserts, but we know one thing. The godly will stand firm. We stand firm because we stand with Jesus Christ. Our rock. Our strength. And our cornerstone.
When we choose to walk with the Lord there is no promise of security or a problem-free life. But. There is grit. There is a determination. An understanding that when you follow the Lord, that this is not all there is! There is hope of more.
John 16:33: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Revelation 21:4: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
A definition of standing firm is refusing to back down! It’s saying, “God, I know this is going to be worth it. It’s worth it for what you’re going to produce in my heart and it’s worth it for the sake of eternity. So I put my trust and my hope in you and I stand firm in your promises.” Because those who put their faith in Him do not just “die and disappear.” What we go through and the way we live our lives mean something. It affects everything.
So. What are you standing on? Solid ground? Shaky ground? Your own ground? You know you are righteous if the ground you are standing on is firm. If you can stand confident in Christ through any and every circumstance. May He find us steady and unwavering.
by Macy Tiradoegas | Nov 16, 2015 | Proverbs
Proverbs 11:8
“The righteous man is rescued from trouble, and it comes on the wicked instead.”
The righteous are rescued. The righteous.
I’ve been sitting here for far longer than I want to admit, thinking about what it means to be righteous. According to the dictionary, righteous means morally upright, or virtuous. God asks for holy living. We can’t argue that. There is a certain standard that Christ followers are supposed to uphold.
I began to think about how those of us who are professing christians aren’t all that different from non-christians sometimes. How we too destroy our neighbor with our words, how we too often walk with little integrity and little wisdom. I started to get mad.
“God, who could this verse be talking about? There are far too many professing your name and walking like the ungodly.” I was going to write about how we need to examine our life and if we profess Christianity we need to start acting like it!
But God reminded me of the way he sees us.
It isn’t fair.
It makes no sense.
The great mystery of the cross is too great for our comprehension.
Romans 4:3 says this: “For what does scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’” And skipping to verse five, “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”
Our faith is counted as righteous.
It’s unfair.
It’s scandalous.
It’s grace.
I know theres a balance and almost a controversy of faith vs. works. Intact, I wrote a blogpost previously about that tension and about how our works profess our faith. It’s all true. BUT. How sweet it is to know that even when we mess up, even when we don’t have it altogether, when we are fully broken and imperfect; when we are hypocritical and act like the ungodly, that God still counts us as righteous. He still sees Jesus.
Romans 8:1: “For now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
It doesn’t give us a license to sin. It doesn’t mean that people aren’t turned off to Jesus because of the way Christians often choose to act. But it does mean that our faith is enough to be counted as righteous.
So how are we rescued from trouble? We can have full confidence knowing this:
The ones who put their faith is Jesus Christ are rescued from trouble, and it comes on the wicked (those who do not put their faith in Jesus) instead.
God, be my rescue. May you count my faith as righteousness like your word says. And may I, in return, bring to you a life that is holy and pleasing and acceptable.
Photography: @brandonnalley
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