The Failures of Pride and Uncontrolled Weakness – Purity 1859
Purity 1859 01/12/2026 Purity 1859 Audio Podcast
Purity 1859 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the sun shining through the trees, and over the remaining snow, on the edge of the farmlands that lie on the eastern side of Waite Road comes to us from yours truly as I was delighted to capture this rare sighting of the sun in all its January glory, yesterday morning, while out walking my canine friend, Harley.
Well, it’s Monday, and for those of us who have stumbled, if not fallen, in our New Year’s resolutions already, I am here to encourage you that no matter what mistake you have made in the recent or distant past, it is never too late to start again.
Yesterday, I met with one of my life coaching clients, and we both confessed to one another that although we have turned away from our fleshly holiday and recognize the need for increased discipline and self-control, we both have been struggling to accomplish our various goals for months, with a capital M. In our discussions, we recognized that pride and laxity were common causes of our inability to successfully turn things around and to get things done. While we both had extenuating circumstances and internal rationalizations as excuses for our lack of progress, the bottom line in each of our cases was that we gave in to temptation and ironically, our past successes kept us susceptible to failure – because we both had experience in overcoming indulgences in the past, we wrongfully assumed that we could easily do so again.
Our experience taught us that we could overcome laziness or setbacks with concerted and sustained effort. We both learned that if we slipped up or had a setback, we could press in and do what we know would work to make things right again. But the problem we both ran into recently is that we both would make some progress towards restoration or in accomplishing our goals, but then we would invariably give in to a subsequent temptation to slack off, and then we would end up further away from our goals than where we started. We mutually agreed to institute measures that should help us to be more self-aware and to pursue and prayerfully accomplish the goals we have been lax in achieving, but we also recognized that we both needed to rely on the Lord’s strength, wisdom, and guidance to have any hope for sustained improvement.
Even though the Lord was instrumental in helping us to both achieve milestones of success in the past, somewhere along the line, we both started to rely more on our own skills and strength than relying on the Lord, and ended up losing some of the progress we made. So we are not only going back to the drawing board, but we agreed to both ask the Lord to direct our steps to help us overcome our weaknesses.
Speaking of weakness, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion from Saturday spoke on that topic, and I am sharing it today on the blog to help us all to recognize that pride is a root cause of all of our “uncontrolled weaknesses”. Dr. Charles Stanley writes:
“Uncontrolled Weakness
Our flaws can wreck our life or drive us into a deeper, more intimate relationship with the Lord.
Judges 14:1-20
The book of Judges tells of Samson, a man so powerful he could kill a lion with his bare hands (14:5-6). He possessed physical strength unequaled by any human being. But this could not compensate for an inner weakness.
All of us have such areas of fallibility. God wants these imperfections to teach us how dependent we are upon Him. Addressing them according to the Lord’s wisdom and guidance will drive us into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him.
Samson’s issue was lust. Although he was raised by devout parents and had a clear calling in life, he gave in to his desires. Despite Nazirite laws, Samson pursued first one Philistine woman (v. 2) and later another, named Delilah (Judges 16:4). Even though Delilah’s motives were blatantly treacherous, he gave himself over—heart, mind, and spirit—to her and sinned.
Before he died, Samson lost everything: his strength, eyesight, and honor. The man who once led his country mightily became a slave to his enemies until God empowered him one final time (Judges 16:25-30).
A proclivity for a certain sin can ruin our life—or it can drive us to utter dependence on God. What a blessing to know He will always help us when we rely on Him for guidance.” – Charles Stanley
Amen. Samson’s weakness was lust, and even though He had great strength, this weakness cost him everything. While he was able glorify God through his death, Samson’s story is a cautionary tale of the dangers of giving into the flesh and not taking our sin seriously. If Samson had only listened to the word of the Lord and the advice of his parents, his story would have been different.
While sexual immorality was Samson’s obvious sin, his pride allowed him to give in to it.
We all have our “weaknesses” and temptations, but our pride tells us to disregard the wisdom of God’s word, which tells us not to sin, to give in to them.
As much as we would like to deny it, if we sin, we all choose our sin over what we know is right. We choose our sin over the wisdom of God’s word. We choose our relationship with our sin over our relationship with God and then go crawling back to the Lord with guilt and shame.
Through faith in Jesus, God forgives us, but He longs for us to choose Him and His pathway of righteousness so we don’t have to suffer the guilt, shame, and the negative consequences of our weaknesses.
To overcome our weaknesses, we have to ask the Lord for His strength. If we stop doing things our way and ask God for His help, He will give us the strength and wisdom to walk free.
So, choose today to humble yourself before the Lord, to reject your pride and besetting sins, and to receive His power to overcome.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
(While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Prayer – Waiting On the Lord.
Hebrews 3:1 (ESV) Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
Today’s verse is the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the twenty-first point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Prayer.
21. Because Jesus was tried, as we are, he is able to help us.
Today’s Bible verse directs us, who wish to answer God’s holy calling, to consider Jesus as our high priest and our fellow apostle to overcome.
As high priest, Jesus reminds us that our sin debt has been paid for and any subsequent sins we commit can be forgiven. When we go to confess our failings to God, our sin guilt is forgiven, and we can be cleansed of all unrighteousness.
As an apostle, Jesus reminds us how to live a holy life here on earth and His example gives us the path to follow through life.
Although we will be tried like Jesus was, He can help us to do the Father’s will and to become the people God made us to be.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today, we continue sharing from “Day by Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Adams’ books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 358
The Spirit’s fruit is love. – Galatians 5:22
Yes, He is the One Who produces fruit (spiritual graces) in your life. There is love and there is love. You were not able to love others with a godly love until God poured out His Spirit into your heart when He took up His residence there. Paul, in Romans 5:5, explains this fact: “… God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us.” His love differs from man’s because it always is based upon what God says is best for another. Love, therefore, begins with love for your heavenly Father. You love because He first loved you (1 John 4:19). That love, as it increases, flows over into loving relationships with others. Love, as a piece of the Spirit’s fruit, means giving (see John 3:16; Galatians 2:20). When you give yourself to God, you will be able to give yourself unstintingly to others (a problem we all have). The “new commandment,” to love one another, is new because for the first time Someone—our Lord—completely obeyed it. By looking at Him, therefore, you may discover what true love is.[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 366.
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