And In This Corner...

Before you read any farther, you need to go get your Bible...and a whole bunch of bookmarks.

It's okay...I'll wait.
...
...
...
Seriously, I'm not going anywhere.  Go get 'em.  This is important.
...
...
...
In my last post, I asked you to take a good look at yourself and what you're proud of.

I left you by asking you to take a good look at yourself and reminding yourself of what you're proud of.

Are you proud of your physical appearance?  You workin' hard for that hardbody?  You should be proud, right?  Especially if you're one of  over 45 million Americans who have a gym membership (not me, and I've got the gut to prove it).

Proud of how important and connected you are?  Maybe you're one of 65+ million LinkedIn users, one of 75+ million Twitter users, or one of 35+ million facebook users (yeah, I'll admit it...I use all three).

Proud of all those cool gadgets you've acquired over the years?  Do you have one of those fancy iPhones?  Well, you're one of 41+ million owners.  How 'bout a brand spankin' new LCD TV?  Over 140 million of those have already been sold world-wide.

What about the stuff that REALLY matters?  Proud of your kids, and how you've raised them?  Proud of your marriage, and how you two have battle through the problems?  Proud of the intestinal fortitude you've shown by battling through illness or financial troubles or emotional scarring from a terrible childhood?  How 'bout the job you do @ work?  And we can't forget....wait for it...how proud you are of your church?  Your faith?

We could do this all day, and I don't want to bore you with any more links to all kinds of obscure statistics.  I'm sure you get the point: if you take a close look at your life, there are a bunch of things in it that you're proud of.  Then, if you put all those things together, and listen to all the people complimenting you on them, it's not too hard to be proud of yourself.  Well, if you're proud of yourself, proud of what you've accomplished, proud of what you've got - the Bible makes it clear that you're living in opposition to God (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5 to name a few).  God is your opponent, and you're in a wrestling match with Him, whether you wanted to be or not.

Now, here's just a VERY small sampling of who He is, what He's made, and what He's done:
1. He created the world on which you're standing...from nothing (Gen. 1)
2. He created everyone...including you (Ps. 139:13-14, Job 33:4,6)
3. He is greater than all of us...including you (Job 33:12)
4. He has destroyed cities (Gen. 19:24)
5. He spoke through a burning bush...that wasn't really burning (Ex. 3-4)
6. He controls animals (Ex. 8, Ex. 10:1-20, Num. 21:4-9, Dan. 6:16-24, Jonah 1:17, 2:10)
7. He controls the elements (Gen. 6-8, Ex. 14:15-30, Num. 11:1-3, Dan. 3:19-27)
8. He controls planetary movement (Jos. 10:12-14)
9. He empowers man (Judges 14:5-6, 15:14-15, 16:26-30, 1 Sam. 17:45-51, 2 Sam. 23:8-12)

There are a thousand more examples of these categories, and there a thousand other aspects of God that I could list.  But I would encourage you to check these out and remind yourself just how mighty God is.

The point?  If God is your opponent, you're not going to fair very well, because He's bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, and better than you will ever be.  It's the biggest reality check you could ever get.

James 4:7 says that finding humility starts with submitting to God.  When you accept the reality of the situation, it should be easy.  Why is it so tough, then?  Because we don't continually remind ourselves that God is all-powerful, perfect, and has our best interest in mind because He loves us.

Embrace your position in relation to God, and acknowledge his glory.  Take a minute to worship Him!  Pray to Him right now...and leave yourself out of it.  No requests, no thank yous for stuff going on in your life.  Just give Him glory, praising Him for who He is, what He's done, and what He continues to do.

Next up: we form The Resistance!  Stay tuned...