Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

For so long as I can remember hearing the term, devotional has been a synonym for "religion lite." It refers to something that touches the heart and makes one think about God and being a better person.  Many "devotionals" are sugary and full of cotton candy.  But when one reads a few of the places in the Bible where devote, devout and devoted are used, a much stronger concept emerges.

Jericho was devoted to God which meant it was to be utterly destroyed and all within belonged to God (Josh 6:17, 19, 21).  Achan was himself utterly destroyed for taking from the devoted things.  Anything devoted to God was holy to him and for his service or for the priests (Lev 27:28, Num 18:14).   Should a city in Israel be proven to be idolatrous then it was devoted to God, that is, utterly destroyed, all inhabitants killed and the city never rebuilt (Deut 13:12-18, Lev 27:29). 

Although the N.T. does not impose such temporal penalties, the words imply such dedication as to be described as fanatical.  For the feast of Pentecost, "devout men from every nation under heaven" gathered to hear the first gospel sermon.  These were so fanatical that they traveled for days or weeks at great expense to spend a few days in the holy city.   Cornelius was so extreme that he deserted the religion of his family and world to do good for a despised people, the Jews, and converted some of his soldiers (Acts 10:2-7).  Further, his devotion influenced his family and friends to be there to hear Peter 10:24).

Jesus demands the utmost devotion, an all or nothing zeal, "You cannot serve God and Mammon" Mt 6:24).  "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Lk 9:62).  Paul exemplified such devotion, "It is no more I that lives, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20).  Every Christian is required to devote himself in this absolute way, "Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth;" "Therefore" refers to, "If then you were raised together with Christ" (Col 3:5, 1).  The Holy Spirit leaves no room for sometime or somewhat religion: Kill yourself or lose all hope.

Devotion begins with the mind, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." A Christian is not even allowed to think what he wishes.  His heart belongs to Jesus.  But further devotion comes with Paul's next exhortation, "The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you (Phil 4:8-9).  We are not free to do as we wish, not if we are to be described as devoted.  Nearly every epistle makes the same statements using various figures from slavery to "Walk as he walked" to "Present your bodies a living sacrifice" and more (1Jn 2:6, Rom 12:1).

Given these and many similar passages, how did devotional ever come to mean something "feel good"? Many of the sayings of Jesus and of the N.T. are far from nice.  They are demanding in a "get busy rowing or get out of the boat" way.  A devotional should call on Christians to give their all to be holy in the service of God.
 
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever (1John 2:15-17).

Keith Ward

In case you didn't figure it out from the last post, the answer to the question that probably sprang to your mind is, "Yes."  I do have a participation trophy.  I know many young women who are as innocent and inexperienced as I was at 18, which is the year I received my trophy.  I hope what I am about to say will help you avoid the experience I had.  Some of these things I learned as a direct result of the harassment I endured.  Some of them come from the wisdom of age or from listening to other women who endured the same kinds of things.  It's time we prepared our daughters for the real world.  Sexual harassment comes in all shapes and sizes.  Some of it is fairly minor, and other times it is violent and criminal.  No matter which side of the scale, it is always terrifying and traumatic. 
            1.  Be careful what you wear to work or class or wherever you may encounter men who are in authority over you.  Yes, you may have the right to wear whatever you want to wear, at least as an American, but you may put yourself at risk as well as calling your reputation into question and giving the harasser "reasonable doubt" as he denies your allegations.  This one thing may be the most important thing I tell you.
            Don't wear anything that calls attention to your body—any part of it at all.  No tight pants, tight sweaters, short skirts, transparent blouses, or deep necklines.  Practice in front of a mirror how you sit, noticing what happens when you cross your legs.  Lean over as you would over a desk and look up to see whether your neckline falls open.  For good measure, make it a point to hold your hand flat on your neckline any time you lean over in front of anyone anywhere.
            Don't wear anything that shows a lot of skin—large expanses of leg, chest, shoulders and back.  If you are always cold, maybe it's because too much of you is uncovered.  Spaghetti straps might as well not be there for all the good they do, not to mention strapless.  A belly chain on an exposed midriff speaks volumes.  As I said, you may have the right to wear what you want to, but there is a difference between exercising your rights and lacking common sense.
            Fathers, if your daughters don't understand these things, tell them why this is so important.  You are her leader and guide and protector, the one who is supposed to be looking out for her welfare, not throwing her out to the wolves.
            2.  If a man says anything about what you are wearing, tell him right then that the remark was inappropriate.  All right, so a male friend looks up and say, "Hey, you look nice today."  That might be perfectly innocent.  Some men have no idea what is and is not appropriate to say.  But if he says, "Wow!  I bet your husband (or boyfriend) likes that outfit," he is out of line.  If he says anything about the length, the tightness, the shortness, or the neckline, he is equally out of line.  Tell him so and then go document the remark in a notebook you keep just for that sort of thing, and keep that notebook safe and hidden.  Do not tell anyone else about it.  Then pray you will never need it.
            3.  Do not let a man into your private space.  Private space may be smaller in an office than in a parking lot, but still, no one needs to be standing so close to you that you can tell what he had for lunch.  If a man comes too close, step back.  If he persists, try talking loudly enough for people to look up and notice, and if necessary say, "Back up.  That's close enough."  LOUDLY.  He will get the point.  Then document the encounter.
            4. Do not allow yourself to be cornered in a room.  Always pay attention to the situation.  Don't be caught unawares.  Keep doors open and make sure you have a way of escape.
            5.  Never, ever, touch a man.  Unless it is the polite, firm handshake of one professional greeting another, keep your hands to yourself.  If his collar is crooked, tell him so and let him go fix it.  Men read all sorts of things into touches, things that never cross a woman's mind, especially a chaste woman. 
            6.  Do not allow a man to touch you.  I know an older woman who had to deal with a boss who made it a point as he walked past his female employees to be close enough and to have his arms just far enough out to brush their breasts as he passed.  In those days, no one turned a boss in.   But she learned quickly to cross her arms across her chest as he came by.  She said the first time he just snickered as he walked past.  He knew exactly what she was doing, but that also told him that she knew exactly what he was doing too, and so would her husband. 
            No one should be stroking your arm or rubbing your neck.  Certainly no one should put an arm around you or hold your hand.  If he tries, just move away.  Then document it.
            7.  Do not meet with your boss, professor, etc, after hours, alone.  If he says you have work to do together, tell him you need to call your husband (or father or boyfriend) to wait in the office for you, or if it is too small, in the next room—with the door open.  If he says all right, you were probably safe, but you never know.  If he is insulted, tell him you are sorry but it is a policy you and your husband, etc. have, nothing against him.  It should be a policy you have.  Take care of that tonight.
          8.  If anything does happen, even something less than criminal behavior, go to whoever is in charge and take your notebook with you.  That is why you have been keeping it—to show a pattern of bad behavior.  If you have made it specific as to time, date, and specific words and circumstances, it will obviously be true. But do everything you possibly can to make this unnecessary by exercising the common sense principles above.  The fallout will be difficult.
            I doubt this is everything, but I wish someone had told me at least this much.  As a Christian you have the responsibility to keep yourself pure and to do whatever you can not to cause someone else to sin.  We women call men oblivious all the time.  Some women are just as oblivious about this subject.
From someone who knows:  trust me.  You do not want a participation trophy.
 
​Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! (Ps 119:1)
 
Dene Ward

I'm sure you saw it on Facebook too:  someone issued Florida a participation trophy for participating in winter this year.  Especially up here in the north part of the state, we had several hard freezes, sleet, snow flurries, and ice on the roads.  At least we know we will have a blueberry crop this year.  Our type of blueberries require a certain amount of cold and the past two winters have been too warm for our plants to produce enough berries for one muffin!
            But I know this:  anyone who has not lived in the Midwest or Northeast still does not understand real winter.  We lived 100 miles south of Chicago for two years.  That experience was far more than two or three weeks of lows in the 20s and highs in the 40s.  Someone in Maine would probably consider that a heat wave.  A few cold weeks down here is nothing compared to several months of even colder weather up there.
            We have had the same experience trying to explain the heat down here.  When people further north see highs in the 90s they say, "Well, we get that hot, too."  Here is one difference: we have it day in and day out for a full five months with no let up.  Here is another:  we have humidity to match it; and a third:   the sun exposure, being much more direct, will sap the strength right out of you. 
            We tried to tell some people that once, and they just laughed.  Then they came to visit for a week.  It was only mid-June, so it wasn't really all that bad yet.  One morning the visiting lady went outside with me to help hang up clothes, oh, around 9 am.  We hadn't been outside more than five minutes before she suddenly gave a soft little "whew!"  I looked over.  She was red-faced and pouring sweat.  "It's sort of like a steam bath out here, isn't it?"  she said, panting a little.  She could hardly endure a week of it.  And it was constant.  Once the summer sets in, there is no fluctuation.  A heat wave?  Ours lasts from May till October.  Being here a week in June still does not earn you a participation trophy in a Florida summer.
            So I have learned over the years to listen to others and to realize that unless I have had their exact experience, I really do not know what they are dealing with.  I have learned to withhold judgment until I gather more information.  I have learned to offer more sympathy and less castigation, and I never say, "I know how you feel," when I don't.
            I have been watching and listening to all these accusations of sexual harassment lately.  Nothing quite gets my hackles up like someone saying, "So why did she wait so long to tell?" as if her delay makes her story unbelievable.  Especially when it comes from someone without a participation trophy, and especially when it comes from a man.
            I will tell you exactly why she kept quiet.  Not just embarrassment, but total mortification.  And the more chaste a woman is, the less likely she will say anything.  If she has been raised as a Christian, to keep herself pure and to assume the best of others, her first thought will be, "What did I do wrong?" even when she did absolutely nothing.  She won't want to cause any trouble or bring attention to herself.  She won't want to embarrass her family.  She won't want to hold herself up to all the probing eyes and thoughts of people who will assume the worst about her and dare to bring up what she considers unspeakable suspicions.  Even if she is perfectly innocent.  And if the harasser is older, a head taller and a hundred pounds heavier, or in authority over her, she will be too scared to speak.  If she needs the job, the class, the promotion, the grades, or whatever it is she might lose if she talks, she will keep quiet for years, even decades.
            So stop judging.  If you are a man, don't say a word.  You have no idea what it's like.  You don't have a participation trophy.
 
​Judge not, that you be not judged. ​For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. (Matt 7:1-2)
 
Check in again tomorrow for the answer to the question I know you want to ask.
Dene Ward

Although I only watched a couple of episodes, I know from others that the television show "Seinfeld" affected society in several ways.  For example, I found an article that listed 15 words or phrases that the show introduced, like "Yada, yada, yada," "double-dipper," and "re-gifting."  Unfortunately it also influenced our attitudes about sinful things, like one-night stands.  But in a less disastrous way, it even changed what we eat.
            On April 25, 1996, the show aired its 130th episode which was called "The Calzone."  Although calzones originated in Naples, Italy, in the 1700s as small items of street food—"calzone" means "trousers" because they would fit in a pocket—they were not that common, even in Italian restaurants, (spizzicorestaurant.com).   Suddenly, as a direct result of that show, everyone wanted one of these inside out pizzas.  In American restaurants these days, they are large enough for two to share and are served with a side sauce, which Keith usually dumps all over his.  My own baked version are individual calzones, small enough for one person only. 
            So one time I had invited a couple of friends for lunch.  One in particular had been raving about a calzone I made for her a couple of years before.  So I promised her another.  I had bought everything from memory.  With the price of gas making one trip to town cost $8+, I buy everything I need for the week on one day.
            Suddenly in the middle of the night I woke up, sat up straight, and said out loud, “Cheese!”  I had forgotten the mozzarella and provolone.  How in the world can you even think of making what is basically a pizza turnover and forget the cheese?  It’s like planning to make brownies and forgetting the chocolate!
            We are no better when we try to be children of God and forget the basic elements. 
            The Pharisees thought that since they tithed even their herb seeds, they were good Jews.  They were certainly right to be so careful.  Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD's; it is holy to the LORD. You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year, Lev 27:30; Deut 14:22.  Yet Jesus reminded them that they had left out “the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness” Matt 23:23.  How did they think they could be children of a just and merciful God and leave those very things out?  It should have been unthinkable.
            John dealt with people who thought they could be followers of Christ and live immoral lives.  He was plain about their mistaken ideas.  Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 1 John 2:4.  He reminded them of the same thing Jesus reminded the Pharisees.  How can you think you are a child of God if you don’t live by his rules?   No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother, I John 3:,9,10.  I don’t know about you, but I get really tired of famous athletes who wear crosses around their necks and “thank Jesus” before the cameras, but live like the Devil otherwise.   
            It’s time for all of us to stop trying to make calzones without the cheese.  You can’t pick and choose which commandments you want to follow and then claim to be an obedient and faithful child of God.    
            Children do not tell their parents which of the house rules they will and will not obey.  They are obedient to the parents in all things, and they understand that being a child of their own particular set of parents means certain things simply are or are not done if they want to stay faithful to the values of that home.  How many of us have said or heard, “Your mother would roll over in her grave if she saw you do that?”  We understand what faithfulness to the spirit of the parent means, even if some specific idea is not spelled out in black and white.  Why are we so dense when we come to our dealings with God? 
            The next time you make your family’s favorite dish, using every single ingredient because you would hate to disappoint them, remember not to disappoint God either.
 
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27 
 
Dene Ward

Fill in the blank:  We ought to stop (handing out meeting announcements, sending out correspondence courses, putting articles in the weekly paper) because it's too expensive and doesn't do any good any way.  Oh, how many times have those words been said in the Lord's church?
            It was once said even as a new convert who had completed the correspondence course and continued a study with the preacher was sitting right there among them.
            It was once said when the preacher wanted to advertise the upcoming gospel meeting and was told, "We're right here on the highway.  They know where we are.  No need wasting the Lord's money that way."  Eventually, he paid for those printed announcements out of his own pocket and as he knocked on doors to hand them out was often asked, "Now, where are you located again?"
            These things may be long shots when it comes to sowing the seed, but who are we to say that, especially when we have a few plants springing up from those efforts who are being talked about as "not worth our money?"  Because that is what they are saying about them whether they mean to be or not.  God told us to sow the seed, and in that famous parable, to do it everywhere, letting Him give the increase, not us.  Just where is our faith?  If others have better ideas, let's hear them, not sit there worrying about keeping our money buried in a bank somewhere.
            Jesus had a thing or two to say about the worth of a soul.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matt 16:26).  How would we feel if someone was worried that ours cost them too much?  And what will it profit our souls if we are willing to exchange the church's bank account for someone else's?
 
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight (Isa 5:21).
 
Dene Ward        

Wards have always been persnickety about people messing with their favorite food and drink.  Keith, especially, does not want his coffee messed with, and usually not his sweet tea.  But there is hope.  A friend recently gave us a brand of peach tea he has fallen in love with, so I cannot call him his father yet—but it's a close contest.
            And have you noticed that finding the original formula, flavor, or variety is nearly impossible?  You certainly cannot just run into the store, grab it, and run out in two minutes.  You will spend 10 minutes just reading the boxes.  Did you know that there are 21 flavors of Cheezits!?
            I first encountered this when my boys were young and thought the best macaroni and cheese was—no, not their Mama's, but Kraft's.  They have outgrown that and I am certainly glad.  Have you looked at the varieties lately?  Besides Original Macaroni and Cheese, we have Whole Grain Mac and Cheese, Cauliflower Pasta Mac and Cheese, Thick and Creamy, Creamy Alfredo, Southern Homestyle (which isn't), Sharp Cheddar, White Cheddar and Shells, White Cheddar and Garlic, White Cheddar and Cracked Black Peppercorn (I kid you not), 3 Cheese Mini-Shells, 4 Cheese, Gluten-Free, Microwavable, Spirals, Paw Patrol Shapes, and Unicorn Shapes.  And what do they place on the eye-level shelves?  All the weird ones.  I can remember crawling around on my hands and knees in the supermarket floor trying to find a box of Original Mac and Cheese which was always on the bottom shelf.
            We have simply become too wealthy.  We have forgotten what eating is all about.  Not entertainment ("snap, crackle, pop!"), not excitement, not textural variety, or any other culinary term.  No longer do we eat to avoid starvation and gain proper nutrition.  And because we have that luxury, we think that we can simply not eat what we don't like.  Poor people don't think that way.  They are grateful for anything they find on their plates.
            Perhaps that explains the plethora of denominations on the streets you travel every Sunday.  People always want something new and different, something that appeals to our likes and dislikes.  Something easy, convenient, and entertaining.  We certainly don't want "the same old thing."  Does that sound anything at all like this? Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand… (Ps 95:6-7).  We have forgotten that in spiritual terms we are not only poor, but completely destitute.  We cannot save ourselves.  We should be grateful to even be able to approach God at all, so maybe we should be eager to search out how HE wants us to do that. 
            When that first church started, the same things were taught in each one.  That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church (1Cor 4:17).  See also 1 Cor 7:17; 11:16; 14:33; 16:1.    Paul also said, The things which you both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you (Phil 4:9).  There most definitely was a pattern that every church followed, one that the inspired apostles gave them from the beginning.  Do you suppose that might mean that the original is the one we should be looking for?
            And if it takes getting down on your knees with the Word of God to find it, then do it, because nothing tastes quite like the original.
 
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus
(2Tim 1:13                                                                                               
 
Dene Ward

Over the holidays I finally used up several votive candles.  That's "several" as in half a dozen.  Now I have six empty little jars, none of which have lids.  The budget-conscious woman in me wondered what to do with them.  With no lids they are fairly useless, and I have no more shelf space to accommodate them.
 
So I went looking for Keith.  "Can you use these for nails or screws or something?"  He looked skeptical but took them with him to the shed anyway. 
Very shortly he was back inside with those same jars.  "I already have a shelf full of them."

Still it was difficult to make myself throw them away.  We are so used to saving and "re-purposing" because we have had to for so long, that it felt like I was being sinfully wasteful to even considerate it.  But I took a deep breath and did so.

I wonder if we don't have the same problem with our spirituality.  Habits, hobbies, even family traditions can get in the way of the time we need for spiritual things.  Those things are not usually wrong.  A smattering of them can even be healthy, not just to our bodies, but also to our weary minds.  But what goes undone because I just can't let go of a trivial pursuit of mine in order to pursue something not trivial at all?  At what point does is become "clutter" in my life?

Perhaps it is time for some careful consideration.  How might I rearrange things so that I can spend more time on spiritual endeavors?  Sometimes it is as simple as changing the order of things or just getting up 10 minutes early.  Can I do those simple things for God, for my relationship with Him, for my spiritual health?

Here's a thought.  Family night is important.  I would never even consider asking someone to give it up.  But maybe once or twice a month you could use that time of togetherness to cook and take a meal to someone who needs it.  Or take your children with you to visit at the hospital, then stop for ice cream on the way home.  (How do you think they will learn visiting otherwise?)  Or spend the first half hour of family night on a devotion and accompanying discussion.  It isn't that difficult to figure these things out when you really want to.

Stop saving useless "votive jars" when you already have a shelf full of them.  At some point it is no longer good stewardship.  At some point, even good things can become sinful.
 
​And that which fell among the thorns, these are they that have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 
(Luke 8:14)                                                                            

Dene Ward

…God is more interested in our holiness than in our comfort. He more greatly delights in the integrity and purity of his church than in the material well-being of its members. He shows himself more clearly to men and women who enjoy him and obey him than to men and women whose horizons revolve around good jobs, nice houses, and reasonable health. He is far more committed to building a corporate “temple” in which his Spirit dwells than he is in preserving our reputations. He is more vitally disposed to display his grace than to flatter our intelligence. He is more concerned for justice than for our ease. He is more deeply committed to stretching our faith than our popularity. He prefers that his people live in disciplined gratitude and holy joy rather than in pushy self-reliance and glitzy happiness. He wants us to pursue daily death, not self-fulfillment, for the latter leads to death, while the former leads to life.

D. A. Carson, Praying with Paul

When you work at a small, spiritually oriented college, you sacrifice.  Anywhere else, with the same degree and experience, you could make twice, or more, the salary, but because you care about the spiritual development of young people and because you want to help offer them a godly environment in which to learn and grow, you put up with a steep salary cut and loss of other recognition you might have received at another school in order to do your part to keep tuition as low as possible.  I have a son at a school like this who, by virtue of his doctorate and his published works, could make much more if making money were his only goal.  We tried to raise him with other goals in mind, and it seems to have taken well.
            Some people do not realize this sacrifice and therefore do not appreciate the gift these people have given to their children.  But at least one man does.  He is a strawberry farmer.  As far as I know he is not famous or wealthy.  He is a Christian who recognizes the sacrifices of others and takes upon himself the responsibility to reward them and encourage them in whatever way he can.
            Every spring he drives his truck to this school and gives each employee an entire flat of fresh strawberries.  Every March I see the pictures of my son and daughter-in-law washing, capping, and slicing bowl after bowl of bright red berries, their little boys with red lips and bulging cheeks as their parents work, always saving a few bags for us as well.  One flat of fresh strawberries may not be worth much in today's economy, but add up one for every employee and suddenly this is a generous gift of his means, one that will be remembered all through the year, every time someone pulls a bag of strawberries out of the freezer or a jar of jam off the pantry shelf.  He could have sold this part of his crop and made more, but he chose instead to give it away, to use it to say thank you.
            And I imagine that man will be remembered for his generosity for decades.  Long after he is gone, employees and their children will miss "the Strawberry Man," especially if no one else steps in to fill the shoes of this open-hearted man who recognizes the sacrifices of others and gives what he can to say thank you.
            Will anyone miss you in a similar fashion after you are gone?  Is there anything you are known for among your group?  How sad if not only no one misses you and your deeds but they are actually sighing with relief when you are gone!  Are you known for complaining?  For whining?  For finding fault?  For gossip?  For causing uproars?  For raising "foolish and ignorant questionings" in Bible study?
            Or are you, like the Strawberry Man, watched for anxiously, greeted with smiles, and remembered constantly because of your kindness and your awareness and consideration of someone besides yourself?   In the spirit of the widow's mite, God expects us to match the man who gives what he has, as much as he has to give, to encourage and enrich the lives of others, one strawberry shortcake at a time.
 
It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. (Ps 112:5-6)
 
Dene Ward

One especially cold day this past winter, I looked out the window and saw a brand new bird on the feeder.  A bit late for migrating, which often brings us new birds passing through, I pondered what this newcomer might be.  As if he knew I needed help, he flew toward the window and I got a closer look and a big surprise.  It was a plain old Carolina wren, of which we have many, thanks to their multiple nesting habit in the summer.  But this one was so puffed up, his head was nearly hidden by his chest, and he was twice his usual girth.
            Well, I thought to myself, you are, too, when you put on a big puffy coat to go outside in the cold.  And that is indeed what had happened.  The wren had puffed up his feathers to hold the heat closer to his small body.  Before long, I noticed equally puffy cardinals, titmice, and sparrows.  God gave them all waterproof feathers to shed the rain and insulate their bodies, and the ability to create air pockets around them to hold in their body heat by puffing out those feathers.  But still, if you are not aware of that, at first glance they look like completely different birds.
            And that happens to us as well.  When we become puffed up with pride, we act like completely different people.  Tell me you haven't seen a man you would have described as a good man, do something which seems completely out of character to protect his image, his status, his control over a situation.  We walked out of a congregational meeting one time and someone said to us, "I did not know that brother today.  He was not himself at all!"  Or maybe he was, and we just found out that day.
            I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another (1Cor 4:6).  Paul defines it for us:  when we think ourselves better than others in any sort of way, we are puffed up like all those little birds I saw that morning.
            Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will; and I will know, not the word of them that are puffed up, but the power (1Cor 4:18-19).  He says that pride can make us think we never need to be corrected.  The Corinthians with this problem were about to find out otherwise.  I would certainly hate to find out before it was too late.
            Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind (Col 2:18).  How ironic when Paul says that humility can cause pride—false humility, that is.  It may not be wrong to recognize that we have improved in our efforts to gain humility, but bragging about it certainly is.
            If any man teaches a different doctrine, and consents not to sound words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he is puffed up, knowing nothing, but doting about questionings and disputes of words, whereof come envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings (1Tim 6:3-4).  And here we have a false teacher who cannot be reasoned with because he thinks he knows more than you do.  The sad thing is, he knows nothing.
            We could go on with yet more passages, but perhaps these are enough to get the point across.  Pride can change you into someone you really should not want to be.  It can puff up you like a bird on a cold winter day, but no one will think it's cute.
 
Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not; love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up (1Cor 13:4).
 
Dene Ward