Instructions For Tomorrow

“A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.” - Proverbs 13:1

Since the beginning of time, there was something special about a father-son, grandfather-grandson, mother-daughter, grandmother-granddaughter relationship. There is something magical that happens that I believe stops time and scares the living daylights out of the devil, because he knows that if he can stop a relationship in which God has ordained, then he will stop the church from being the church.

Since Tuesday, we have been snowed in in Chattanooga for my mother-in-law’s surgery, but in that time, I have had the chance to catch up on some reading, listen to some Ray H. Hughes sermons on YouTube, and focus on some much time with my wife and soon-to-be son. It’s been a great week, but ready to be home!

Sitting down with Pawpaw (Lindsey’s grandfather) the other day in our hotel room, I simply asked him, “Pawpaw, what is the secret to life?” And Pawpaw responds with, “Two things: Obey the Lord and keep pride out of your life.”  In a way, what he said was complex, to me, it’s so simple that he made it seem so easy. Allow me to explain…

1) Obey the Lord

For Matthew 28:20 tells us, “teach them to obey all that I have commanded you.” Is it really that hard? Do we not know that at the end of obedience unto the Lord comes life, blessing, and purpose? I don’t think it’s so much of having the “well, I want to do what I want to do attitude”. Obedience to God is more than just saying you will do this or that. Obedience is an outward expression to God proving your love for Him by simply doing what He says to do. Any time I hear the word “disobedience”, I immediately think of Jonah running from the call that God had for him at Nineveh. What came after his disobedience? Discord with fellow friends, guilt, being swallowed by a whale? I mean, what can be worse than being eaten by a man eating fish? Come on now! I know people that run from God, because they simply don’t want to give up the other side of their life. I also know people that don’t want to obey the Lord, because they don’t know how to. Obedience is so vital to us, because we were born with commandments birthed inside of us that need to be fulfilled. We were all birthed with passions and prophecies that I believe God ordained just for a single individual to fulfill. Obedience is the way to life!

2) Keep pride out of your life

Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride cometh before the fall (destruction).” Pride….hmm….something we all don’t like to talk about. There are a million definitions to the word “pride” but to me, pride is thinking you know everything when you don’t…always thinking you’re better than this person or that person…pride is feeling satisfaction from your OWN achievements. If pride comes before the fall, don’t you think we should all keep pride out of our lives in order to stand? There is something powerful about Solomon pointing out “pride” of all things that comes before destruction. To every building, there has to be some kind of support by pillars or beams, but pride is the very thing in our lives that takes down the strength to stand up in life. Please do yourself a favor and go read John 13 and read about Jesus’ humility or go to John 19 and read about Jesus’ ultimate humility on the cross. I pray that everyone reading this would always learn to learn. I am preaching to myself here, too. My father-in-law always tells me, “Once you quit learning, you will die.” We, as Christians, must always be taken to school! Pride, kill it before it kills you!

So, I leave you with two things today, man and woman of God: Obey what the Lord commands you to do and kill pride before it kills you. Younger generation, just because you’re a younger version of the older generation doesn’t mean you know more than they do. Don’t be a punkish generation who denies the lessons of those who have walked the walk before you. Sit down with them, spend time with them, and listen to their stories of how they used to do things back in the day. Timothy needed a Paul before he could go into his purpose in life. You need a Paul to speak into your life. Obedience and humility…let’s do this!