Live Free with Josh Howerton - Toddler-Sized Ego | Ep. 301 | Monday, April 1, 2024

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

What do you think is the number one thing that stands in the way of our relationship with God and others? Pride. Self-importance is at the root of every other sin, and it cheats us out of the good things God offers us. We may think it builds us up, but it turns us into toddlers who only know the word “mine.” For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.com slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what is up, everybody? Hope you had a great Easter. This is absolutely my favorite time of the year. We get to celebrate Jesus in a big way. The grass is starting to grow. Flowers are popping up out of the ground. The trees are starting to bud. And as many of you know, I am a basketball junkie, so I am all about March madness. I love the Cinderella stories. I love the upsets, except when it's my team, of course. I love teammates linking arms with each other on the bench. I love it when the nets. I love it when the Nets. I love it. When the Nets. I love the Nets. I love the upsets. I love the sets. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I are cut down and one shining moment starts to play, man, I love it all. And since we are in the thick of the final four, I thought we take this week on the Daily Drive and talk about the fatal

four. Four things that if we don't game plan for them, they can take us out. Four things that can do more than just pull an upset. They can wreck our lives and wound a lot of people. So we're going to reveal the four as we go along, but today and tomorrow I want to talk about the number one seed. It's dangerous enough that I think it warrants at least two episodes. It's this thing lurking in all of us. It complicates everything in our lives. It keeps us from apologizing. It won't let us admit it when we're wrong.

It makes us defensive, makes us power up on people. It's this thing that refuses to be vulnerable or show weakness. Makes us stiff-armed people who are trying to help us. It's this thing that keeps us running and competing in unhealthy ways, makes us buy stuff to impress people. It causes us to lie about our past, makes us exaggerate our accomplishments, enhance our social media profile, makes us lie about our weight and pat our resumes. This thing keeps us from learning new things, keeps us locked up in addictions. It won't let us celebrate when good things happen to other people, even makes us feel good when somebody else

fails. This thing stands in the way of not only our relationships with other people, but our relationship with God. And ironically, it does a number on us, too. You know what this thing is, right? Yep, pride. Not talking about a healthy self-esteem or being proud of your kids. I'm not talking about that feeling of, wow, I actually did that, I painted that, I wrote that, I built that, I accomplished that.

Those are good and healthy. I'm talking about that puffed-up sense of self-importance, inflated ego, arrogance. Now the person looking back at us in the mirror would never call it. that. And that's the problem. Pride is so sinister, and it is at the root of every other sin. I share this about a year ago on this podcast, but I need to read it personally at least once a year. It's Beth Moore's. My name is Pride, and many of you've heard this, but maybe you need to hear it again like I do. My name is Pride. I am a cheater. I cheat you out of your God-given destiny

because you demand your own way. I cheat you out of contentment because you deserve better than this. I cheat you out of knowledge because you already know it all. I cheat you out of healing because you're too full of me to forgive. I cheat you out of holiness because you refuse to admit it when you're wrong. I cheat you out of vision because you'd rather look in the mirror than out the window. I cheat you out of genuine friendship because nobody's ever going to know the real you. I cheat you out of greatness in heaven because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth. I cheat you out of God's glory because I've convinced you to seek your own.

My name is Pride and I am a cheater. You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you. Untrue. I'm looking to make a fool out of you. God has so much for you, I admit. But don't worry, if you stick with me, you'll never know. Isn't it good? You know two-year-olds can't say a whole lot, but they master one word pretty quickly, don't they?

Mine. That's what toddlers say, mine. And we get fooled into thinking that when we flex our self-importance, it makes us all big and bad. But in reality, it shrinks us right back. the toddler status. Makes us super small. I witnessed a guy the other day going on and on about something that he did. He was exaggerating things to make the story more dramatic and make himself look more important. He even dropped the neighbor to into the story, you know, for the wow factor. I'm telling you,

the longer this guy talked, the more small he got. Now, the good news is I recognize it and later apologize. Talk to God about it. I'm pretty embarrassed to use myself right now as an illustration about the smallest of pride. But, man, it makes all of us look tiny, doesn't it? It diminishes our capacity to apologize. It diminishes our ability to admit it that we don't really know how to fix the thing. We don't know where the heck we're going. It weakens our encouragement muscles, and we find it hard to give a compliment

or receive one, for that matter. You can't hear what you need to hear or give what needs to be given, because our pride, our ego, shrinks us right back to toddler size as we go through our life saying, mine, mine. and eventually your ego becomes a self-imposed prison. It will keep you locked up in solitary confinement. It becomes this dark and lonely cell that keeps you in and everybody else out. I mean, everybody, including God.

There's so much of you in your life that there's just no room for anyone else. You do remember what ego stands for, right? Edging God out. Psalm 104 talks about this. In his pride, the wicked man or the wicked woman does not seek him in all of their thoughts there is no room for God. It's saying we can get so full of ourself that there's just no room for God. We can start living like I really am the center of the universe. And that's why the Bible says that God detest pride, because it keeps us from

experiencing his love and acceptance, which he knows could change everything in our life. Pride really does cheat us out of love. It reduces our capacity to give it and receive it. You start walking into rooms thinking, here I am, instead of, oh, there you are! It has such a way of devaluing other people. You're always sizing up the room, ranking other people with yourself, always at the top. Because when you're full of you, there's no room for anyone else. It's hard for you to say those phrases that are so crucial to any relationship, phrases like, I love you, I'm proud of you, I need you, I was wrong, I'm sorry.

And you become controlling and intimidating, and everybody in your world begins to walk on eggship. around you. They want to say, hey, dad, you, mom, you, honey, you, boss, you, that they're too afraid, because your pride has diminished your capacity to give and receive love. Now, let me pause right here and say this. We all struggle with ego and pride. And the fact that you might be thinking right now, man, I hope so-and-so hears this, that just bruised my point. All of us need to learn how to lay our ego on the altar. And nobody better to learn that from than Jesus. There was no one like him. He taught and modeled this radical version of humility, one that unlocks the prison cell of pride, and tomorrow we're going to unpack a passage

that shows just how he did it, and will give us something to model when we're getting after our pride. But let me just leave you with this verse today. One of those you can say over and over today. So when you are tempted to become the center of the universe today, you can hear James 4, 6, and 10, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So humble yourself before the Lord, and he will lift you up. What do you say we stop edging God out and make room for his voice today? See you back tomorrow. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays

at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.combe. Church slash daily drive.