Hebrews was written for Jewish
Christians who were having trouble with traditions. You can
imagine the difficulty of leaving the traditions they were so grounded
in and discovering the truth of what God was really saying. The
struggle must have been great. They were being encouraged to
stand firm in their faith in
Jesus. The very thing we need to
do. Paul encourages us to grow in Heb 5:11- 6:6. We are
told to leave the elementary teachings, and our elementary
lifestyles. Righteousness is for the mature. How can we be
righteous if we are stuck in the basics? Are we any different
from those Jewish Christians? The traditions we grew up with can
become obstacles for us as well.
Why do we struggle to live out
that life of faith? It is the obstacles in our path that we often
fail to see and keep us from going forward in our walk with God--in
fact,
sending us back to where we started from. This is how we get
stuck in the elementary teachings.
What obstacles do we have in our
paths? Are they put there by God? By the enemy and God allows it?
Or do we put them there ourselves because of disobedience,
lack of
knowledge, or the plain and simple fact that we as humans are selfish
and can justify any behavior or wants in our minds? When we
justify we can make it okay to do anything, have anything, or say
anything and hide behind grace to satisfy our selfish desires.
What is an obstacle? Webster’s
1828 Dictionary defines it this way:
OBSTACLE; n. [L.
obsto, to withstand; ob and sto.] That which opposes; any thing
that stands in the way and hinders progress; hinderance; obstruction,
either in a physical or moral sense.
So what are the things in our life
that stand in our way and hinder us from progress?
Do you think you don’t have any
obstacles? You already have the attitude of Christ? Well if
you think you already have the attitude of Christ then there’s no
reason for you to grow, you’re already there--but that’s a lie!
James 3:2 tells us that “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is
never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his
whole body in check.” Some of the most damaging obstacles
are ones we put in our path ourselves.
Romans 16:17-18 warns us against
people who put obstacles in our way. “I urge you, brothers, to
watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way
that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away
from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but
their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the
minds of naive people.“ Serving our own appetites creates
obstacles not only for ourselves but others as well.
We can not have the attitude that
we can’t be perfect so why try. Hebrews 12:1-3 tells us
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for
us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our
faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you
will not grow weary and lose heart.” Getting rid of the
hindrances/obstacles in our life will make it easier to run the
race. Not running away from them but going right through
them--kicking them out of our life using the power given us through
Jesus Christ
Perseverance is very
difficult. Sometimes it can feel like we’re beating a dead
horse--that’s not the case. We need to persevere even though we
may not be able to see anything. A lot of times we conjure up the
reason something hasn’t happened yet or why someone hasn’t talked to
us--don’t do it! We are to persevere. Only God knows the
reasons. If He wants us to know, he’ll tell us, otherwise we need
to “fix our eyes on Jesus” and run the race set out for us. We
are not to “grow weary or lose heart,” Jesus knows what we need and
when we need it. We must trust Him. This can be difficult
and the only way I know how to do it is by having a personal relationship
with Jesus and growing in righteousness by reading God’s
Word and actually applying it to my life.
Pride has always been an obstacle
in my life. My Grandfather was a very proud man, and he spoke
about his pride, but I didn’t understand that there are two types of
pride. The first is the pride of what God has done in our lives.
(Righteous Pride) And the second is having pride of what one has
done in their own life. (Arrogant Pride)
RIGHTEOUS pride:
Just; accordant to the divine law. Applied to persons, it denotes
one who is holy in heart, and
observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous man.
Applied to things, it denotes consonant to the divine
will or to justice; as a righteous act. It is used chiefly in
theology, and applied to God, to his testimonies and to his saints.
ARROGANT pride:
Inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own
superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank or
elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance,
reserve, and often in contempt of others.
[Both definitions from
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary]
I always lived the latter, taking pride in what I have accomplished and
never being able to admit my wrongs to those who were family or close
to me, but to others I could admit my faults. It was only a show
to make me look good, or to have others look favorably on me.
The pride I had was a huge
obstacle in my life because I would never admit my faults, I was never
wrong. That pride made it very difficult to begin my new
growth. I first had to renew my
thinking, (Ro 12:2) and be
transformed into the likeness of Christ. (2 Co 3:18) That meant
that I would have to admit that all I thought I knew was wrong, and
would have to renew my mind with truth, and absolutes from God’s Word,
not from worldly knowledge.
Pride tells us we have our body in
check. Pride will not let us admit our faults and failures, thus
keeping us from growing in righteousness. We’ve lost the true
meaning of good pride. We make it about ourselves not about
God. In the world we boast in the natural--not in God. We
have no problem boasting in God in small/comfortable gatherings, but
what about when we’re around people that don’t live for God--do you
boast in God or yourself then?
I know of a gentleman that had his
whole life planned out. He was going to retire in a few years,
sell his home in the hills of San Diego and build a home in France to
retire to. He and his wife had worked and saved their money, they
were wise with their money. Everything was coming together, there
was only one problem--he never figured on the fires of Fall
2003! You see he, his wife and son (and his nice home) were
caught in the fires and died. Now his plans mean nothing.
You see this man never turned to God. He figured he didn’t need
God. He could boast in his own accomplishments--so he
thought. How about you, do you live on your own accomplishments?
We don’t boast enough about the
Lord--we need to be better. We need to quit taking the credit for
what God has done!
Proverbs 16 “Pride
goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Jeremiah 49:16 "As
for the terror of you, The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, O
you who live in the clefts
of the rock, Who occupy the height of the hill. Though you make
your nest as high as an eagle's, I will bring you down
from there," declares the LORD.
God is very clear on what He
thinks about pride. So why do we hang on to it? If I would
take the pride I had in me and the world and put it in God--think of
how many people would be living for God today!
We need to recognize when pride wells
up in us. When you catch yourself wanting to boast about
something, check yourself--what/who is your pride in? When you
find yourself acting meek check yourself again--are you doing this so
that others will think a certain way about you? Or is it true
meekness and God will receive the glory for your behavior? You
see, whether it’s boastfulness or false humility--it’s still
pride. If God is not receiving the glory but we are, something is
definitely wrong. God has put truth in us so that we can
recognize the difference. Learn how to pay attention to the voice
of God so that you can recognize the truth.
Pride was an obvious obstacle in
my life but not the only one. Pride is the root of many other
hindrances. Fear, anger, complacency, disobedience are all some
other examples of obstacles that are rooted in pride. Remember
arrogant pride is “all about me.” Righteous pride is all about
God!
We all have different obstacles
on our paths we travel, some small and seemingly insignificant and some
large and blatant. Whatever the size of obstacle, and whatever
the reason, they all must go so that we can live in the freedom God
desires us to live in.
Be aware of what stumbling
blocks are in your life as you go through each day so that you can get
rid of them. Remember the pac man game? It had a little
smiley face with a mouth that opened up and whatever was in its path
would go away. We need to be like that pac man taking our
stumbling blocks right out of our lives. So that we are able to
live the full measure of a life of freedom and truth, which God has
given through Jesus Christ. (Ro 12:3)
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