One Word At A Time: Ego
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 7:00AM MAD21 By Alan
It’s interesting to guest write on Ego. Of all the sins, of all the topics, Pride and Ego are the most malevolent, the most evil. Love is the greatest of the spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 13:13), but is the oppositely most powerful evil Hate? I don’t think so. I contend that it’s Ego.
It is no less than Ego that struck down the second most powerful being in the universe. Satan was a shining beautiful angel. The Second In Command in Heaven. He was all set for Eternity on the winning side, and he let one little idea get into his head. He could maybe get a little bit more ambitious. He could succeed on his own, without any help from the Big Guy. In fact, the Big Guy was in the way. Satan began to think “I will get more” and “I will become like God.”
Read what it says in Isaiah 14 (the emphasis are mine):
How you have fallen from heaven,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!You said in your heart,
"I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High."But you are brought down to the grave,
to the depths of the pit.
Satan was thrown, not dropped, thrown, out of heaven like lightning, close to the speed of light, (imagine what that was like), because he decided to put his own self in front of God’s self.
Satan continued that theme with Eve. You could be more, you could know more, you could be like God. Most people think that Eve and Adam committed the original sin, but Satan just gave them the temptation that lured himself into the Great Fall.
How do you get the best of the best to fail? What do all of the movies portray as necessary to get ahead? Drive, motivation, desire to succeed. Those are good traits, but when they are out of balance, they become the downfall of the ambitious. Ego says “I am better than others,” and “I can get this done, even if others fail.” This is the true downfall of man.
God has answers for every situation. We had the privilege of hearing someone recently say “The practices of fasting and prayer that God gives us put us into a place of humility so that we can receive His truth.”
Why do we need humility? It’s our armor to combat Ego. Why do we practice humility? Why is it an essential part of Jesus’ teaching? Because Jesus knew that in the giant battle we face, Ego is the center to all other sins. He knew it when He gave us the greatest commandments, in Matthew 22:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’
The greatest commandments are specifically designed to go against self.
Where is the room for Ego in these commandments? They are completely against Ego. There is no room for Ego in God’s design.
Remember that God changed the universe because of Ego, and the battle will continue until God wins it.
This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Bridget Chumbley's One Word at a Time.
Be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Ego.
Ego, One Word At A Time in One Word At A Time
Reader Comments (6)
Great thought that humility is our armor to protect against ego. It gets out of control so easily. Great post- thanks Alan.
It was ego that first brought sin, and sin that required a sacrifice. Thanks for sharing this, Alan, and to Ginny, to, to have the guest post.
"I will become like God."
That says it all. The ultimate ego-trip. Thanks for the great post today. I am better for it.
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6b
Opposes! He actually becomes our oppostition. Great reminder of how to stay on God's side.
Yes! Humility! I keep asking for it...
Ego is a dangerous trait... thanks for a great post and reminder, Alan.