Friday: October 25, 2013

READ: Daniel 4 & 5

THINK: There is a rare medical condition known as Situs Inversis in which all of the major organs in the body are reversed or mirrored from their typical positions. Most people with this condition lead normal lives and many don’t even discover that they have it until something goes wrong. It often requires a doctor who does an x-ray and discovers that the heart is on the right instead of the left and other things aren’t where they ought to be for anyone to even know something is amiss.

In these 2 chapters of Daniel we read about a different kind of heart condition. And sadly, this one is all to common in all of us. There is a spiritual condition where our hearts are in the wrong place. Both Nebuchanezzar and Belshazzar, kings of the greatest empire in the world during their respective reigns, had hearts of arrogance and pride. They were self-centered and self-satisfied. Their position and their power left each in a place of believing that he needed no one, that he was responsible for his own success, and that he was untouchably great.

Their pride caused each of them to deeply dishonor God. And each one was judged for it. Nebuchadnezzar was made to live like an animal until he came to his senses and once again humbled himself and recognized that God is sovereign and rules over all. Belshazzar, after blaspheming God by using the objects from the temple for a drunken party, lost his life.

Pride is costly. Self-centeredness is deadly. We cannot do life on our own, as much as we’d all like to. We cannot control our own lives and our own destiny, as much as we all want to. God is sovereign. And we need to humble ourselves before him. Do a spiritual heart checkup today. Where is your heart at? Are you depending on God every day? Do you acknowledge that everything you have is from him? Do you live as his grateful servant? Do you live according to his will or your own?

Don’t wait until it’s late in the game. Don’t postpone these questions until someone else has to come in and call you out on your pride. Give yourself a checkup today.

PRAY: Confess your pride today. Humble yourself before God, and thank him for all that he does for you. Come before him and admit today how much you need him.