Devotion Booklets for Seasons of the Church Year Lent 2018 | Page 30

Give Up a Sense of Security
Saturday, March 10th
1 Corinthians 10:12
One of Aesop’s fables goes like this: Two roosters fought for supremacy in the farmyard. Finally one
was defeated and he went and hid himself in a corner of the hen-house. The victor flew up to the roof
of the barn and began to crow, “I’ve won, I’ve won!" An eagle swooped down and carried him away and
the rooster that had been defeated suddenly found himself the unchallenged master of the farmyard.
The moral of the story: Pride goes before the fall.
Human beings by nature are proud. When we look at a group photo, the first person we automatically
look to is ourselves. When someone is trying to talk to us, often we either fail to listen or we interrupt
them. When we actually take the time to listen, many times our reaction is to one-up the person who is
speaking. Human beings are proud by nature.
Unfortunately, that pride does not go away when it comes to our relationship with God. We go to
church, we read our Bibles, we do something nice for our neighbor, and we think, “What a great
person I am. This church is lucky to have me. My spouse could never find anyone so great as me. I
know I’m not perfect God, but I’m certainly better than most of the people on this earth”. Human
beings are proud. But what does God say? “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you
don’t fall!”
We’ve been talking about giving up a sense of security, and the sense of security God specifically warns
us about in 1 Corinthians 10 is the false security that human beings may place in themselves. The
nation of Israel often fell for that temptation. Instead of repeating the sins of their history, God urges
us to give up the security of self, and instead watch out and be careful so that we too don’t fall.
During Lent, we are presented with a wonderful opportunity to guard against a false security in self, as
we humbly confess our sin to God. Make use of opportunities to confess your sins privately to your
Pastor, publicly with fellow Christians, and individually to your God. And then, dear Christian, rejoice
in knowing you have a Savior who has washed your sins clean in his blood.
Prayer: Lord God, forgive the sins of my pride. May I never look to myself for the security of my
salvation. Instead, may I always look to you, my God and Savior. Amen.
Activity: If you have a copy of Christian Worship—a Lutheran Hymnal, open it to pages 154 and 155,
and either by yourself, or preferably with another Christian, walk through the section entitled, “Private
Confession”.
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