By Tom Wiles | For The Times-Post
His fame spread far and wide,for the Lord gave him marvelous help, and he became very powerful. But when he became powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall.
— 2 Chronicles 26:1-23
I remember thinking to myself, “This is their neighborhood … ?”
It was nice, but not what I expected of someone who I knew was able to purchase the whole street of homes and not just one of them.
There would have been nothing wrong with owning the whole street, but one was enough.
Time and again I witnessed in their lives that material and positional success were not able to wrench sincere humility and gratitude to God from their hearts.
King Uzziah didn’t experience that victory and the blessings that come with it. When he followed God, God blessed him.
He won battles, built buildings and walls, worked the soil, multiplied his flocks and commanded an impressive army.
He was denied one privilege: entering the Temple to burn incense to God.
Apparently, that annoyed him. I’m king, and I do what I want.
He did, and leprosy became his new best friend.
Pride won. He lost.
Blessings of all kinds have been given to each of us.
How are we doing in the midst of them? Prosperity, being well known and wielding influence aren’t the problem.
It’s how we feel and think about each of them that gets us into trouble.
Love God.
Love people.
Use things.
Be thankful for your blessings.
Step off the stage and put Jesus forward as the big deal.
Humbly serve others.
Never forget that, ultimately, pride will always lead to destruction.
Baby grown-ups
Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you, I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk to you as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life.
— 1 Corinthians 3:1-23
I thought to myself, “This isn’t going to end well.”
I knew this to be true, because I had done the exact same thing.
Overzealous parents who were convinced the referee had nothing else to do but specifically target their child or team with gross injustice were yelling at him incessantly.
I had just finished making my low-key move away from them when the whistle blew and the referee stopped the game to kick out the offending parents in front of everyone.
As Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, he was more than a little frustrated that they were acting like babies even though they felt quite mature and spiritual.
They were looking into the faces of their fellow church family members and instead of seeing a sister or a brother, they saw an opponent.
They lost sight of Jesus.
Their spiritual ears had dulled to the call of the Holy Spirit.
Divisions reveal immaturity.
People fighting against people has been a plague on humanity ever since sin entered the world.
Paul was adamant that there should be at least one place where unity is the pattern, not division.
That place? God’s family.
Now, Paul never hesitated to call out false teaching and teachers, but that’s not what this situation was about.
Bible-believing, Jesus-following people should fight for each other, not against each other.
Let’s resist the urge to be a baby grown-up.
Tom Wiles is senior minister of Fall Creek Christian Church in Pendleton. He can be reached at 765-778-3166.
