Esther 6:6 8/12/2025

 “Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?”

Haman couldn’t imagine anyone being smarter, wiser, or more important to the king, than he was…  Does that sound familiar? Are there times when you are overcome with your own importance?  That mindset is a recipe for disaster. We easily see arrogance in others but have difficulty seeing it in ourselves.  The laser vision we have when examining other people’s flaws seems to dim when we look inward.

When men have issues in their life it is usually in one of two areas. Either too low a view of God… or too high a view of themselves… Haman had the latter.  To determine that you are the most important person on the planet you first must discount the value of everyone around you. Then you must lie to yourself about your own accomplishments and motivations, and finally you must assume that everyone loves you as much as you do. Haman had no problem with those requirements and so he began the process that would end in his demise.

How far are you from starting that same process? How much of a stretch is it for you to believe that we’re all lucky to know you and that you of course should be  honored? That attitude can usually be cured with an authentic hard look in the mirror.

An Honest evaluation of your  attributes and abilities is important, since knowing where you are is necessary in getting you where you want to be… However, at the end of the day only God’s opinion of you matters… and He has demonstrated that He loves you, and that should be the only factor relevant to your own self-image.

Now that your worth has been settled, you can focus on all the other people that “the king may want to honor” … and how you might be able to help with that project. Humility means you are secure and content with God’s evaluation of you and have little concern of the opinion of men. This frees you to forget about your own importance and focus on elevating those around you. The God who created you in His own image has bestowed value on you, and He desires that you bestow value on others.  

“God won’t fill you if you are already full of yourself.” – Max Lucado

Matthew 5: 23-24 8/5/2025

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

Many people interpret this passage to imply that you cannot properly give an offering to God when you are alienated from one of His children.  While that is accurate, in context, it means much more than that.  

These verses highlight the requirement of loving your neighbor.   It is mentioned while Jesus is teaching on the commandment not to kill. He adds that even those who are angry with their brother are in "danger of judgement”.  He then elevates the importance of reconciliation by saying, no matter what you're doing, even if you’re worshipping... if you remember an offence, stop and go fix it.

People say that "time heals all wounds", but that is not true. Time doesn’t heal all wounds; in fact, it deepens some . Small disagreements, left untreated,  become huge divides.  I know of situations where people literally don't remember the original issue, but since it was never addressed,  their relationship remains broken. 

Anger and bitterness need nothing but darkness to grow. Like an untreated disease they silently destroy their host.  The tragedy is that if dealt with quickly, most grudges could be easily fixed.  The great composer William Walton said, “A grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.”  It’s needless. If we let pride stop us from dealing with an offence, eventually it will be fatal to the relationship and damaging to our walk with God. In this passage, Jesus includes grudges in a discussion of anger and murder. That indicates that passive hostility is not a small issue to God.

No matter what you're doing, if you are alienated from someone, go deal with it.  If God brings it to your mind... go do what you can to fix it. Nothing is more heartbreaking than the realization that you have wasted years being too prideful to go to a friend or family member and show them that you love them too much to be apart from them.

Whatever it takes.... do it now.

"Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness... Laugh when you can. Apologize when you should. And forgive what you can't change."
- Anonymous