People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. – Proverbs 16: 2

Back in college, someone once told me, “You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met!”

And it went straight to my head.

I really thought I was invincible after that.

In my eyes, I could do no wrong because this person (who didn’t really know me all that well) confirmed to me that I was not only nice, but the nicest person ever.

If I had known then what I know now, I would’ve told that person: “Don’t believe the hype! I may seem nice to you, but believe me, I’ve done and am capable of doing some pretty un-nice things!”

And the truth of the matter is that none of us can lay claim to any form of purity:

• We’re not wise.
• We’re not good.
• We’re not humble.
• We’re not unselfish.

Nope!

Not on our own merits anyway.

The only thing that purifies us and gives us any semblance of holiness is our faith and belief in Christ Jesus.

That’s it.

So we have to be careful not to boast about and or believe in the virtue of our character without giving proper credit to Who it came from.

Anything good that emanates from us comes directly from the Father, not from our own hearts.

When we make bold proclamations about our character, we invite God to come in and disprove all the hype we’ve built up about ourselves – because He knows we haven’t painted an accurate picture of who we really are.

The only thing we can say about ourselves with certainty is that we’re sinners.

And we should be bowing in gratitude daily that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to save our sinful behinds!

Be blessed,

Alexia

Prayer: God, prevent me from lying to myself and boasting about my character. I confess that apart from you, I’m no good. I’m a sinner and I desperately need Jesus to reign and rule over my heart every day. Fill me up with a spirit of humility and good motives so that my life will give you honor. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.