"The Narrow Road": Blogs By Shane Kastler

Are You Proud of Your Humility?

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

One of the greatest enemies of the Christian life is pride.  In fact, some have said that pride is the root sin from which all other sins sprout.  It was pride that got Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden.  And it was pride that got Satan kicked out of Heaven.  Pride is to be avoided, and humility is to be sought after for the Christian.  But pride is often a very sneaky sin to diagnose in the human heart.

            A humble heart is one that doesn’t think too highly of itself.  But eventually, the humble heart is in danger of becoming impressed with how “humble” it is, thus leading to pride over its humility.  As ironic as it sounds, we can be guilty of being too proud of how humble we are.  Though we may not say it aloud, we can secretly wish that others would be more like us.  We can do charitable deeds, all the while longing for others to notice us.  We can become privately impressed with out own piety, while secretly sneering at the rest of the world for failing to be as godly as we are.  In short, we can become proud of our humility.

            The potential for sinful pride is always existent in the human heart.  Which is why we have to daily be on guard against it.  Not only must we live a life pleasing to God…we also have to check the motivation of our heart and make sure that it is love and not pride that drives us in our actions.  We must live our lives for God’s approval and be largely unconcerned with what people think of us.  We must search our hearts for pride, and destroy it when we find it.  And when we find ourselves needing a model for such living, we must look to our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it was said:  “although He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself taking the form of a slave.”  (Philippians 2:6-7)

            Are you proud, or are you humble?  Or worse, are you proud of how humble you are?  The sin of pride is sneaky.  Watch out for it!  Avoid it!  Destroy it!  Then humbly give all the glory in your life to God.

Children Are A Blessing (Times 4) From The Lord

Here’s what God’s Word says regarding children:

“Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”  Psalms 127:3-5

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“God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Genesis 1:28 (NASB)

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“And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them.  But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, ‘Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.’  And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.”  Mark 10:13-16 (NASB)

As I’ve studied the Bible, I’ve found that you will search the Scriptures in vain to find a verse that discourages married couples from having children.  God doesn't consider children a burden....He considers them a blessing.  While it’s true that children are a lot of work.  And it’s true that they have a depraved and sinful nature (which they inherited from their depraved and sinful parents.)  Children are still a blessing, that we are called to embrace and raise up in the “fear and admonition” of the Lord.  Unfortunately, much of our modern society has forgotten this truth.

            Today, children are usually seen as a curse and a burden rather than a blessing.    Children will cost you money.  They will cost you freedom.  They will cost you sleep.  They will cause you worry.  They will cause you anger.  They will remind you of how young the sin nature begins to show itself.  And in their sin, children will all too frequently, remind you of yourself.  Children cause an overwhelming amount of work, anguish, and toil in your life.  But they can also bring blessings that no amount of money could ever buy.  God has said, and I will always believe…. “Children are a blessing from the Lord.”  Though sometimes I have to say it through gritted teeth when I’m ready to string up a kid or two….I’ll say it nonetheless.

            WITH ALL OF THAT SAID…..At this time, I’ll simply confirm the rumor:  My wife is pregnant and we are due to have our 4^th on October 20.  Yesterday, when Erin was at her doctor’s appointment she was asked if we “had room” for another baby.  It’s probably a good thing I wasn’t in the room because I might have responded:  “No actually we don’t and we were thinking of butchering this one….could you set that up for us?”  I remember when I was in college, on of my professors told our class about he and his wife’s decision to have an abortion with their 3^rd pregnancy because they didn’t feel like they could adequately “love and support” another child.  He said this as he lectured us on being “responsible” ironically holding himself up as a model for us to emulate.  It was actually a pretty brash justification of why it was right and “good” for them to murder their offspring.  What they did was pure evil.  His mindset was the same as the world’s…and the opposite of God’s.  The world says to think of your own comfort first…and destroy anything that might hinder it.  God says to “deny yourself” (Luke 9:23) and to “consider others as more important than yourself.” (Philippians 2:3)

            In a world that no longer cherishes children; I gladly say we’re expecting another one.  My initial reaction was surprise.  Perhaps a tinge of dread.  Maybe a quick 10 second panic over the family budget.  And then I remembered what God has said:  “Children are a blessing from the Lord….blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”

            Of all of the scandals I could potentially be involved in today….I’m glad that my biggest “scandal” is that I can say for the 5^th time in 7 years my wife and I are expecting a baby.  We’ve got 3 at home.  One in heaven awaiting us.  And one more in the oven.  Thanks be to God, for yet ANOTHER blessing.