{"id":21447,"date":"2017-09-05T00:10:03","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T07:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/littlecountrychurch.org\/?p=11558"},"modified":"2017-09-05T00:10:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T07:10:03","slug":"september-5-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/09\/05\/september-5-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"September 5, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dear Readers,<\/span><\/h4>\n

In preparation for our year looking at Jesus\u2019 example in the gospels, from time to time we will \u201creplay\u201d some older devotionals. We pray these get you excited for this new year of study together and for what God is going to do as we continue \u201cLiving By His Example.”<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u201cHe must increase, but I must decrease.\u201d<\/em> John 3:30<\/span><\/p>\n

Opinions<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

One Sunday morning while visiting my 80-year-old mom, who lives out of state, I noted she was wearing her new raspberry-colored sweater. Being a sunny day in late spring, I commented to her that she probably wouldn\u02bct need such warm clothing. She looked me in the eye and said, \u201cIt is new, and when one has something new to wear, one wears it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I couldn\u02bct argue with that logic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although my mom and I have fun bantering back and forth like that, later that day my conscience bothered me. I felt what I was really saying to her was, \u201cYou\u02bcre not thinking. My way is smarter. Do it my way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What do I think? That it is my job to impart more pertinent information? That I have higher knowledge and understanding? That if she was as smart as I am, she would never wear a new sweater on a warm day?<\/span><\/p>\n

Really, who cares what I think about the mundane? Must everyone agree with me, lest they risk my smirk, my raised eyebrow?<\/span><\/p>\n

When did I become my own idol?<\/span><\/p>\n

I confess, I have lifted myself up by looking down on others. By elevating my opinions, I imply that the opinions of others are invalid. By telling my mother what I thought about wearing the sweater, I vocalized that she couldn\u02bct make a smart decision on her own.<\/span><\/p>\n

I generally am not conscious of doing this, at least not until the damage is done. I then must go back and repent. I\u02bcm getting good at repenting to others for my many faults and\u2014let\u02bcs call it what it is\u2014sin. Even though I don\u02bct mean to hurt people, whenever I elevate myself over them in any way and for any reason, it is still sin.<\/span><\/p>\n

I could give all kinds of excuses and reasons for this tendency to verbally poke and jab others. But the bottom line is that, as John the Baptist declared, He must increase, and I must decrease.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGod, give me right thinking about Who You are, that You may be exalted in my life. And give me right thinking about who I am not–that You may be exalted in my life! In Jesus\u02bc Name I ask these things, Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Readers, In preparation for our year looking at Jesus\u2019 example in the gospels, from time to time we will […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5zV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}