I can't think of any more deadly characteristics than Stubbornness, Ignorance and Pride. Any one of these in our life has the potential for failure. When you put them all together it is only a matter of time before disaster strikes. Each of these traits enables the other. Stubbornness enables and strengthens pride. I have watched when some who profess to be followers of Jesus, blink and resist Truth when it isn't convenient for them. They try to reason and reckon their way around Truth with their version of convenient truth. One time as a pastor, an aspiring young preacher came to me to tell me his latest revelation about Jesus. He took a portion of Scripture terribly out or context to accommodate his recent "revelation" that he wanted to preach. I told him that he was wrong but I don't have any idea if he preached it anyway. Pride can blind us to obvious Truth in order to prove our point. When trying to help people with Truth, you can actually see the process when delivering that Truth, when that Truth collides with stubbornness and pride enables it. Prides often resists Truth. Ignorance is another one of those fruits of the flesh that turns stubbornness and pride into a deadly combination. At times we run into folks who are in places of authority who are ignorant in a certain area. It must be said that all of us, beginning with me, are ignorant in some areas. We can't blindly pretend that we are experts in every field. As a young pastor I felt great pressure to give people that came to me answers to many different areas of concern. I gave advice to almost every area of life. All too often I gave it in ignorance because I didn't want to say, "I don't know!" Certainly, as leaders and believers, we can hear from God in areas when we simply don't know. That is wonderful when it happens. However, that requires the hearing of God's voice in the moment. I have experienced that many times and I was surprised when I heard answers come from my mouth that did not come from my intellect. Through the years I learned that it is best to say when I don't know, "I'm sorry but I don't know. However, I will pray and seek council regarding your question." There are also times when we won't get the answer to everyone's problems because the Lord wants to reveal Himself to the one seeking answers. It has been said that God has no grandchildren, only children. Every believer must come to a place of hearing God's voice and obeying. Leaders, pastors and mentors are all wonderful gifts from the Lord but they cannot replace a personal, living relationship with the Lord.
May we all search our hearts today courageously making Stubbornness, Ignorance and Pride our enemies and seek God to give us His power to evict them from our lives.
Proverbs 29:1 (NLT) "
Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism
will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.
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