KykNET Lent Guide 2023Sample

Week 1: Humility

Day 4: The Road to… Death

God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. Matthew 5:5 (NLT)

Solomon says that there is a road that looks right but leads to death. We would only choose such a road if we thought it led to life. No one would choose the wrong road if they realised that it only led to pain and their lives falling apart.

Paul describes the path of pride as the path of the flesh: “It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time. Repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.” (Gal 5:19-21 MSG)

Reread this piece of scripture slowly a couple of times. Note if you see something of yourself in it. It can be very difficult to admit, but it could be the first step towards humility in your life. ‘I need the Lord. I can’t do it on my own. I don’t know better. I can only do it with His help.’

A professor once said that “all-about-me-ness” (pride), is like a black spider, on a dark night, sitting on a dark grey rock. You can’t see the spider. You can only see it if you shine the light of God upon it. The purpose of this is not to induce guilt or fear of punishment. Instead, the purpose is to realise which road you are on. You can make a choice. There is another way to live.

Exercise:

Share your realisation with Him and spend the day with this repetition prayer: “Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

Repetition Prayer

Oh God, have mercy on me, a sinner!