Daily Devotion

Run Away from the “Team of Me” Mentality

“Don't act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves” Philippians 2:3

I don’t know if you saw the movie “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins” but it was good and actually subliminally educational. How can anyone truly expect happiness and fulfillment when the only person they feel they can depend on is themselves? I am a recovering “Team of Me” participant. Now don’t get me wrong, I still do not truly rely on others—but I have since learned to go before God with my needs and desires. That way I will not live selfishly and believe that I am the reason for my success. That is a selfish way to live—sadly many people live like this and do things for self-gratification. But I know that ever more clearly now—God and my very own brother are the reason that I am still living right now!(1 Corinthians 4:7)

When you get in those situations where you have done everything that you can to succeed and humility comes to knock you off that high horse, that is your best opportunity for growth. God can use you in those situations to bless others and in turn, turn your situation around and prove that the devil is a liar. Maybe you grew up like Roscoe did, where no one encouraged him or believed in him and it proved that you only had yourself, your will power, and your inner reserve to get you through. You may even become very successful, but be sure the day of reckoning is swift to put things in proper perspective for you. Life has its way of doing that, but once you learn that it is untrue, you must back away from pride and humble yourself. Letting yourself live in such a delusional state allows you to be victim to confusion and miss out on God’s presence.(1 Corinthians 14:33) Letting go of our pride allows us to become more like Jesus—who willingly gives us His lighter burdens to carry.(Matthew 11:29) We have no reason for pride because faith tells us that God will give us what we ask for. Romans 3:27 says “What reason, then, is there for pride? It is shut out. By what sort of law? of works? No, but by a law of faith.” And let me clarify: pride in this case is not the pride you have for a brother, sister, son or daughter, but this is the pride elevator that puts other people down in the basement and makes your own view of yourself overly exaggerated…run away if you are suffering from this ailment…run away QUICKLY!

“See then that God is good but his rules are fixed: to those who were put away he was hard, but to you he has been good, on the condition that you keep in his mercy; if not, you will be cut off as they were.” Romans 11:22