Daily Thought for Thursday December 8th

December 8, 2011 

Let Go of Your Ego

Today’s Thought:

“None so Empty as those who are Full of themselves.” – Benjamin Whichcote

Today’s Quote:

“The worst egoist is the person to whom the thought has never occurred that he might be one.” – Sigmund Freud

Today’s Question:

Have you ever considered this truth: “The fact is, egomania is a form of I-dolatry?” - Anonymous

Today’s Bible Verses:     Ecclesiastes 1:2-3&14,  Proverbs 16:18-20 &  Matthew 23:12

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.  He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“Man must have something higher than himself to think of.” – Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

On occasion it has been said that when a person attests to their propensity towards humility – that they have by virtue of the very nature of their claim – proven themselves to not be as humble as they might have thought.  Laurence J. Peter says, “There are two kinds of egoists: Those who admit it and the rest of us.”

While there may be some grain of truth in his statement, I know that for a lot of Christians humility is a character trait that we work on daily and some of us may even achieve varying degrees of success.

According to George Higgins, “Egotism is the art of seeing in yourself what others cannot see:” From a purely secular and natural perspective that might not always be a good thing.  But from a Spiritual point of view, it might be good for us to recognize in us that which is not physically visible to the natural world.  That would be God’s Spirit: His power and presence within us that when given the proper freedom and place of authority over our lives: can help facilitate our success at actually being humble.  The truth is; the only things we really have reason to boast about and to be proud of in our life, is that which is of Christ.

Remember, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” – The Bible (Isaiah 64:6)   It is the blood of Jesus that washes us clean and it is His power within is that makes us good and righteous: so maybe it’s time to let go of our ego and let God be glorified  and let our praise be for Him and about Him and of the things that He has done in us.

May we not be like Ted Turner, who said, “If I only had a little humility, I would be perfect.”  For we know that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit alone are perfection and if there is any bragging to be done: it should be about them.

Today’s Prayer:

Father, help me to be less egocentric and more praise oriented towards and for you.

“Humility is like underwear, essential, but indecent if it shows.”

- Helen Nielson