12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12
Peter’s denial of Christ after vowing to die for him is just one of the many examples that scripture gives to warn us against over-confidence in devotions and spiritual pride. Another good one is Paul’s humbling with thorns after having a spiritual revelation- which led to his crying out for relief – to which God told him that divine grace was sufficient for him and God’s strength would be made perfect in the weakness he was experiencing. (2 Cor.12:1-10)
If we are close to God in all sincerity and if we love Him with all our hearts, we do not have to think of ourselves as better than those who do not. We have been drawn to Him by the cords of grace and are being held securely in Him by same grace. It is God’s wish that those we are looking down upon should be as close to Him as we are. If we believe that Christ died for all, then “there go I but for the grace of God” should be our mantra when we find ourselves dwelling on how religious or holy we are.
We do not have to boast about our spiritual blessings, gifts and observances; we do not have to boast about our closeness to God. God knows those who are sincerely his; our fruits and the way we live will speak for us in the eyes of man. If we find ourselves ignoring the role of grace when speaking about ourselves, the warning to the Corinthians above should rein us in. If we are standing, we are standing only by grace and not in our own stead – that leads to a fall.
Peter fell after vowing to stick close to Christ. He was not necessarily a proud man, he was just too forward. After receiving the Holy Spirit in the upper room, he went on to do great things but was always careful about attributing his words and actions to divine inspiration. Paul expressly wrote that the thorn in his flesh and the messenger from Satan was to prevent him from getting arrogant. Like Paul, may we learn to avoid glorying in our spiritual highs. May we also learn from Peter to align our inspirations with God’s will, trusting in His plans and not ours.
Hilltop Thoughts, Valley Strengths 