There are two major keys that we need in order to help us avoid the pitfalls of pride which are remembering and forgetting our own frailties. How do I remember and forget at the same time? It is a matter of focus in the way that we remember and forget. Whenever God blesses someone with great revelations or understanding, there is a tendency with human nature to begin to think too greatly of ourselves as though the hours of study, the applause of others, the hours of prayer spent, the trials overcome, the temptations we have overcome, and the resulting success had been somehow our own doing. After all it is "my obedience which lead to my success and this position I now hold with God." Or did it have anything to do with me? Can I look at someone else’s Christian walk with criticism, comparing myself to them with some sense of pride? Was that not what the Apostle warned against in I Corinthians 10, "12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
Key #1 Remembering
I need to remember that "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7:18). This is when remembering all the times I have failed God truly stands as proof of my utter unworthiness before a Righteous God. Were I to list for you my life’s horrendous failures as a Christian, I would be here all day; and I would give you reason for pride. That would not be of any benefit to you. As I remember my own unworthiness; again, as Paul I must say "14 …God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Galatians 6)
Therefore, I must remember the Glory and Righteousness of God which ever increasingly He reveals to me. The more I know of Him, the more I realize the depth of darkness that lies within my own heart. That in turn causes me to seek to know Him more because of His Mercy and Grace to this undeserving child. It is only in that Grace that I might stand or perform anything good. Not my own acts; but His Glory which reflects back to Him magnified as though reflected in a mirror. This is not my own light; but reflects outward God’s Glory when and only when I empty myself of me. This mirror is in constant need of polishing to keep the smudges from obscuring God’s reflection.
When we remember our own frailty and our own past failures, Satan begins to whisper in our ears "You are such a failure, God can’t use you." Then we risk becoming paralyzed, focus on our own inadequacies, and once more focus our eyes on ourselves. That is a sense of pride that perhaps my sins are bigger than Christ’s blood to cover them. Suddenly, I see myself’s inabilities as bigger than God’s abilities. It is then that we must apply forgetting.
Key #2 Forgetting
God has promised that "12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." If I truly believe this, then though I may remember it was grace that saved me and grace that sustains me because I have nothing of my own that I can lay before the cross of which I can be proud; yet, His Grace bids me to stand in that Grace. It is upon His Grace I can stand, not my own works. That reality bids me to forget the past and press forward. "12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3)
So, to avoid the pitfalls of pride we must remember where we came from. Never can we cover up our own frailties and our own failures. That way we can always remember that "17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights," (James 1) It has never been because of my own deserving of that gift or my hard work paying off. Then, I must not remain trapped there in my past; I must forget the power of my past sins and take on the righteousness of God to press forward. As Hebrews 12 reminds us. "let us lay aside every weight (our guilt included), and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith"The more I exercise the keys of Remembering and Forgetting, the more I realize the depth of love that God has for me and the Joy He desires to share with me. He becomes then my greatest treasure which I am drawn by His Love and Grace to seek Him with all my heart, my body, and my soul. Only then can I drive stakes into this covetous, self exalting heart and stand by Grace Alone. Romans 5:
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
WHEN I CAME TO THE END OF ME
So many times I strayed from you
And wondered what was I to do
I tried so hard to do your will
I could not see I should stand still
What could I do to bring you a gift
The harder I tried, the more I’d drift
I reached that point, reality
I broke your heart, still you loved me
CHORUS: When I didn’t have the strength
You were so strong
When my heart was filled with tears
You were my song
You are the love,
you are the peace,
you are the joy that flows in me
When I didn’t have a hope
At the end of my life’s rope
And I couldn’t find my way
Your Grace saved this wandering stray
And now I know a different me
It is your love that set me free
That in this world I might now see
All that you are, your majesty
When I came to the end of me
My love for you, Your love for me