January 12

“Those who know themselves cannot be proud.”  Daily Bread, 1/12/03

I was talking to my brother about how bored I felt which somehow led to my perennial declaration that I was the kind of person who saw the glass half empty rather than half full.  My brother then recounted how his 14-year-old son had been asked that question this week in school--how did he see the glass.  His response was, “It depends on how the glass was to start off--empty or full?” This sparked a train of thought in me concerning my expectations. Yes, it would seem I was always seeing the glass full to start off.  But was this so bad?  I mean, having dreams and goals of a full glass couldn’t be bad could it?  This morning, however, what God revealed to me by bringing the issue of boredom back to mind is that there’s a difference between having expectations that turn out to be unrealistic (hence, the glass appears half-empty) and expectations that stem from entitlement.  Unrealistic expectations can be dealt with matter-of-factly once they are shown for what they are.  Entitlement issues, though, are another matter.  These are the ones that are so deeply attached to us that we feel like we’re shooting ourselves in the foot if we try to make them let go of us.  So we let them alone--until someone else comes along and shoots them down for us.  But all this does is cause us to resent that person.  That’s why getting to know ourselves--truly seeing ourselves (helpless without God)--keeps us from the sin of pride.  Pride is the result of entitlements.  Truly seeing ourselves--the way God sees us--should make us realize that we are entitled to nothing--it is only by God’s grace that we even have life.  That way, we begin with an empty glass and anything in it will cause us to feel we’re on the way to being filled rather than emptied.

“For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.”  Romans 12:3