March 29, 2004 Monday
The Pride of Fear

"And Peter went out, and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:62)
"But Peter, standing...lifted up his voice" (Acts 2:14)

How far does fear keep a person from the will of God? Reading these two accounts could easily lead a person to believe that they have discovered the stories of two separate lives, and that's exactly how far from the will of God fear carries us. Vast multitudes of people will never see God's will because of the pride of fear. In Luke 22:62, Peter faced a spiritual battle that must be fought by anyone who is truly pursuing God....it was time to decide whether past failures, and thoughts of failures to come, would bring the heavenly passion to a halt. Because of his boldness, Peter was one of the few who followed after his Lord, even when all others had fled. But now that he had publicly denied Him, Peter stood to be one of the greatest failures in the spotlight of society, it was time to drop all the pride! Accepting and overcoming failure isn't possible until every spot of pride has been repented of, but oh how we hate to admit that we've failed, especially in our service to the Lord! But our pride keeps us from stepping out in faith, fearing potential failures as we are so concerned with what others might say or think! If your thought life is devoted to anything other than the estimations of your Heavenly Father you've been overtaken by the pride of fear. Pride even causes us to think that we're not worthy of serving God like some other "chosen" people are, yet the Bible teaches that no one is worthy, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4) Never waste your time concerning yourself with thoughts of failures or the opinions of others, but concern yourself solely with glorifying your Heavenly Father and pursuing His will with all your might, no matter what criticism you might receive from others. Kill the pride and follow Christ alone. Remember that you're going to look into His eyes one day and give an account of whether or not you chose to reject all sin and pride in favor of His high calling.