PUFFED UP PRIDE – DEVOTIONAL
Howdy Friends! “Well doggone if that ain’t the shiniest that ol’ saddle has looked in some time!” Grandpop beamed as he walked through the big barn door. He’d left the boy alone with the saddle soap and saddle when he’d made a necessary trip to the little house around the back. On the return trip he’d been delayed investigating the wildflowers breaking open along the sunny barn wall.
“Sorry I took so long, but by golly from the looks of that saddle you didn’t need any coachin’!” Grandpop made a big deal about inspecting the boy’s work. “Yes Sir! That’s a bang up job! I don’t believe there’s another ten year old fella from the city could top that!”
The boy stepped back from his work, stood tall, and folded his arms across his chest. “I agree! And what’s more, I’m proud of it!”
“As you should be, young man. That’s a powerful amount of good and hard work. Somethin’ I been puttin’ off for too long. And I thank you!”
The boy strutted around the saddle perched beautifully on the saddle stand, boasting in playful arrogance of his saddle polishing talents. “Nowhere in all the world is a saddle polisher like me!”
“Lookin’ at this rig I might be inclined ta agree with you!” Grandpop ran his hand across the saddle seat. Then he turned and with a serious look added, “But don’t let it get ahead of you.”
“Get ahead of me?”
Grandpop swung up on the saddle. “Ya see, son, taking pride in a fella’s own work is not a bad thing. We should want to do a job so well we’re proud of it.”
“Much better than than not doing a job good, isn’t it?”
“That’s fer sure. Yup. A fella should strive ta do whatever he does, the very best he can do it. God even told us that. And there’s not a thing wrong with bein’ pleased about it. Trouble comes from an angle of a different direction.”
“Trouble?”
“Yes, sir. There’s a lot of trouble in that pride bucket too.”
“There is? You just told me it’s okay to have pride?”
“Let me think on that a second.” Grandpop made a big display of ‘puttin’ on his thinkin’’ face. “I suppose it’s kinda like this fer starters. There’s a difference between havin’ pride and bein’ prideful.”
“Prideful?”
“Havin’ pride is how you feel right now about this ol’ saddle and how all yer hard work gave it new life. And that’s a good thing.” Grandpop gave the boy a look that shouted listen to me now. “But ya gotta hold them reigns tight young man and don’t let that feelin’ of honest pride turn you into somethin’ you don’t wanna be… Feelin’ you’re all better than the next guy. Puffin’ yourself up like a big shot.”
“Really?”
“Ya see, sometimes folks think just because they’re good folks they’re better than other folks. Why I’ve even seen folks declare how much better they are at somthin’ than somebody else, and strut around amoungst their friends poitin’ out how awful them other folks are at it. That’s a bad thing.”
“I think I can understand that.” The boy said.
“Good! Because bein’ prideful don’t help nobody. Just focus on you, what you do, at your best. Pointin’ out that somebody else don’t do it as good as you don’t do anythin’ to make you do your deal any better. And it grows into the meanest bronc you ever saw.”
“It does?”
“It sure does. And folks often don’t realize it for a long time, and all that time is wasted while they strut around pointin’ out how lousy others are to their friends. Poitin’ out how them others got it all wrong… Let me ask you, how does pointin’ out how wrong somebody else is, make your saddle any more shiny … except in your eyes.”
“I guess it doesn’t help my saddle. Or me.” The boy said.
“There ya go! Ya got it. Just try ta remember, havin’ pride in your efforts is fine. Bein’ prideful, and talkin’ others down ain’t. God tells us that too. Let’s go see how this shiny rig looks on ol’ Blue. ~ Gitty Up, Dutch.
**************************************************************
Bible Verse – Titus 3:9 – “But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.”
Bible Verse – Galatians 6:14- “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Bible Verse – 1 Corinthians 4:6 – “I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.”
Bible Verse – Habakkuk 2:4 – “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”
Bible Verse – 1 Timothy 6:4 – “he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,”
Bible Verse – Ecclesiastes 7:16 – “Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?”
Bible Verse – 2 Timothy 3:2 – “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,”
Bible Verse – 1 Corinthians 2:1 – “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.”
Bible Verse – 1 Corinthians 5:6 – “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”
Bible Verse – 1 Corinthians 8:1 – “Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.”
