Daily Devotions with Greg LaurieÖrnek

An Unguarded Strength

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

Don't ever say, "I would never do . . . ," because the fact of the matter is you are fully capable of doing that and more.

The first step that led to Peter's denial of the Lord was self-confidence. He had said to Jesus, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble" (Matthew 26:33). What caused Peter to say this was the revelation that Judas Iscariot was a traitor. Peter was effectively saying, "Look, I don't know about James and John, the so-called Sons of Thunder. And I am not sure about Matthew and some of these others. But I am going to tell You this: I will never let You down." That was pride, and Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

We might say, "I would never fall in this area." But let's be careful. That is the very area in which we may fall.

You might say, "Oh, I would never do that. I would never, in a million years, commit that sin. I am really strong in that area. You know, maybe I am a little weaker over here. But in this one place I would never fall." Really? Don't you know how wicked your heart actually is? Don't you know that we all have the propensity for doing the wrong thing? As the hymn, Come Thou Fount, says,

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let they goodness like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander--Lord, I feel it--
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart--O take a seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Summary sentence: Remember, an unguarded strength is a double weakness.

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