Lent is approaching...

I need a place to save these articles. Seven deadly sins...we don't know how easy it is to fall into them...really good read, if you're interested...

Seven Deadly Sins: PRIDE

I especially appreciated this part...

The Virtue: Humility

If we have been honest in answering the questions asked above, we have probably discovered that there is a lot of pride in us. That’s ok, if we’re willing to fix it. So what’s the fix? Humility is the obvious antidote. But how do we attain this humility?

First, we need to understand what humility is and what it isn’t. Some people believe that humility is putting ourselves down: saying that we aren’t smart, or aren’t pretty, or aren’t anything good. This isn’t true. We all need to have a healthy sense of self-esteem and be secure in what God made us and the gifts He has blessed us with. So humility is not thinking less of ourselves. Rather it is thinking thinking less about ourselves. Take the focus off us and put it on somebody else, and we’re on our way to being humble.

Another way towards humility is realizing our dependance on God. Without Him, we are nothing. Sometimes the best among us fail to realize this.

One day while Jesus was talking to a bunch of people He set a little child among them and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). The people He was addressing were His apostles! And these words were in response to a question they asked Him: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

We all need more humility. I need more humility. The enemy tempts us to pride in so many different ways and we have to truly be on our guard against it - the father of all sins. Scary.

I also thought this passage was so full of wisdom. Makes a lot of sense...

Adam and Eve would never have made the mistake that they made in Eden if they had gone to God for counsel. Eve may not have been able to stop the dialog that she had with the serpent, but the simple act of going to God and asking Him what He thought about what the serpent said would have saved her a lot of grief. Ditto for Adam. And it wasn’t like they didn’t have access to Him. He walked in the garden of Eden with them!

The more we go to God for counsel the more humble we become. The humbler we get, the more child-like we become. Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad the road that leads the destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the path that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Perhaps only children can find it; after all, if the gate is so small, then only they can get through.

+AMDG+