Repenting

Pride is a sin. Vanity is a sin.
Sin separates us from God.

Pride separates us from God.
Vanity separates us from God.

Pride makes it about me instead of God.
Vanity compares me to others and puts me above others, above God.

I repent for pride in my story. I repent for the times I took glory for things God had done for me and in my life.

I repent for vanity – for the times I put my reputation and others’ perception of me above my love for our relationship, above my love for the Lord.

As I look back on my life, on my career, I see where I had pride. I see where I had vanity. And it repulses me. I am repulsed by my own sin.

I don’t need consoling. I need to call it out for what it is so that it stays far, far away from me.

It is by the hand and graciousness of God that I have ever had any cool opportunity and the provision we have needed to pay our bills and supply for our family.

I will be honest… pride can reverse itself, as well, making me want to hide any neat thing I have ever done now, to share any stories or even my gifts sometimes, because I am afraid I will get some of the glory. But that too, I am realizing is pride, because I am keeping the praise under wraps instead of giving it outwardly to the Lord for what He has done in my life.

So, today, as I look ahead to a big, new year, where I will need to use the gifts, lessons, and experiences God has given me to lead as I am called, I surrender my pride. I surrender any false humility. I surrender sin and the shame of sin.

I cast off any stumbling block that has me at the center and relinquish it to God… thanking Him for the opportunities I have had, as well as for the discipline He has provided me to make me a worker who can be used in the field… because, as long as we have ourselves at the center, instead of Him and others, we can’t be used in the Kingdom of God. And I want to fulfill the call the Lord has for my life.

PRAYER

Thank you, Lord, for every blessing and opportunity you have bestowed upon me to be a blessing to others and to provide for my family. And, thank you, Father, for disciplining me over these past 8 years to make me usable in your Kingdom.

You are so gracious and so kind, Father. I surrender to you, Father. I give you both my pride as well as my shame, and I thank you that you have created beauty where my pride and vanity had produced ashes. I thank you that you discipline those you love, and that you love me so.

Help me be more like you so I can be a part of your Kingdom work to the effective measure you have intended, in Jesus’ name.

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son” (Hebrews 12:6).