Ego

Last month I wrote about compassion and grace. Everyone knows the good feeling you feel whenever you are on the receiving end of compassion or grace. But there is so much more available to you when you have compassion and share grace with someone else. In Acts 20:35, Paul quoted Jesus as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Paul gave that message to the Ephiesians when he was about to leave for Jerusalem. He wanted to encourage them to continue supporting the weak. Ah, you say, we are always tasked to give of ourselves by giving to the weak, the poor, the imprisoned. … Why is it always about someone else, especially the poor and the weak? Can’t they just make their own living and take care of themselves?

When we start thinking like that, Satan is working against us using a very powerful tool. He is using our ego. We all have one. Satan needs only to encourage it to grow to an inappropriate size. According to Dictionary.com, the number one definition of ego is “the “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought”1 . Is ego always a bad thing? I don’t think so. We need to have a strong enough ego to know that God has chosen us, and in His eyes, we are indeed worthy.

Satan takes that healthy ego and pushes it hard, so that it moves from a sense of worthiness to a sense of being more deserving than anyone else. Satan tries to put the “I” in team! Satan works hard to keep us from choosing a serving life like Jesus modeled for us and accepting Jesus’ offer of everlasting life. Whether we have a healthy ego, modeled after Jesus, or an unhealthy ego, modeled after Satan, we become accustomed to our version of self-worth and do not give it a second thought.

The liturgy reading for Sunday, November 26 is from Matthew 25:31-36. Jesus is describing the judgement of the nations, putting the sheep at His right hand and the goats at the left. Both camps are surprised at being selected and separated into the group that Jesus chose for them and both groups ask Jesus essentially the same question. “‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’2 The sheep want to know when they did these things, and the goats want to know when they did not do these things. Both groups were so accustomed to living with their world view that neither group could think of any special time when they either did or did not help Jesus. Jesus replied that whenever they had either done or not done a kindness to one of the least of these, then they had either done or not done it to Jesus.

The liturgy reading for Sunday, November 26 is from Matthew 25:31-36. Jesus is describing the judgement of the nations, putting the sheep at His right hand and the goats at the left. Both camps are surprised at being selected and separated into the group that Jesus chose for them and both groups ask Jesus essentially the same question. “‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’2 The sheep want to know when they did these things, and the goats want to know when they did not do these things. Both groups were so accustomed to living with their world view that neither group could think of any special time when they either did or did not help Jesus. Jesus replied that whenever they had either done or not done a kindness to one of the least of these, then they had either done, or not done it to Jesus.

A healthy ego allows us to claim our own worthiness and not lose it, just because we put others before ourselves. Don’t limit what God can do for you by letting your ego become unhealthy. In Luke 6:38, Jesus is quoted as saying “38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” 3 The measure you give will be the measure you get back. You can afford to be generous with your compassion and grace!

To God be the Glory!

Pastor Frank Hancock

Email: pastor@plumcreekpc.com

Office: (412) 793-4525

Cell Phone: (412) 860-3719 – Please feel free to leave a message.

2 The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Mt 25:37–39. 3 The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Lk 6:38.

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December 2023