One indelible memory from childhood was hearing my dad share his testimony of coming to faith in Christ and being delivered a destructive lifestyle. In the process of God “hitting him upside with head with a 2×4,”as he described it, He believes that the Lord spoke 3 things to him. One thing God said to him was, “Man’s ego is his own worse enemy.”

Our staff is working through a study of the book of James together. This week we are hunkering down at the end of chapter three and the opening of chapter four, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of that quote from my dad’s testimony.

Ego is a funny and fickle thing. The dictionary definition of ego is: “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.”

At times, our culture teaches us to pump it up in order to get things done. We love the praise of others. We love that our contributions matter. We love that fleeting feeling that comes around about as often as the Olympics, that we have figured it out.

But self-confidence based upon one’s self will collapse with the quickness. Our own self-importance has a wide audience of exactly 1 person. We were made for more than tooting our own horn and massaging our own ego.

We are all managing issues and fighting battles in our home, our work, our church. There are a host of problems and people that are the cause, but one contributing factor, that is a variable we have control over, is our ego. Haiti is currently enduring political and economic instability that is making it increasingly difficult to operate our programs. But what might be inhibiting Real Hope for Haiti’s impact even more than the current unrest could be poor leadership. If I want the leaders of Haiti to take responsibility and fix the problems at hand, I can’t pass that buck either with issues at Real Hope for Haiti that were present long before the fuel shortage and subsequent protests.

We would do well to tire of our ego as quickly as we tire of the drama that surrounds us. The quicker we do, the quicker we might connect the dots between our ego and the problems we face.

James 3 says “If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”

When we think about the chaos and confusion that often surrounds us, do we have sufficient self-awareness to honestly ask how we exacerbate situations or complicate relationships?  Do we try to navigate the complexities of life and the dynamics inside our family/ our institutions with earthly wisdom that is focused on self, with jealousy and selfishness that is the fuel and underlying motivation for our actions and attitudes?

How proud can we be? How blind can we be before we see it in ourselves? I’m sure others see it in me long before I do.

Early in James 4, he writes, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” I think humility is the example Jesus left for us. I believe humility is key to serving others and demonstrating genuine love and affection. Humility is a characteristic I want to project I possess. Sadly, it is more often a projection than something that I get low enough and are willing to deny myself enough and trust Jesus enough to actually possess.

We must appreciate James 4:10 when he writes, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” It is exceedingly empty praise when we exalt ourselves. Jesus showed us the supreme example of humility as recorded in Philippians 2. Paul challenges his readers to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but esteem others higher than themselves. Then points them to the example of Jesus, who didn’t demand this or that and certainly didn’t get what He deserved in His earthly life. But He trusted the Father to glorify Him in the right manner and in the right time. We should be humble enough to follow His obedience and patiently endure, with humility, remembering how finite we are and how infinite He is.

One final note. Don’t write a blog post about your ego on a Monday because you will get put to the test thoroughly on Tuesday, then feel less good about it when it posts on a Wednesday…Yeah, the ego is fickle, fragile thing.

Or so I heard from a friend.