Who Do You Think You Are?

Posted on May 7, 2015 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters

Who Do You Think You Are?

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12

I can still hear that question to me posed by my parents when I would become disrespectful after not getting my way. I would typically go too far and say something or do something out of line and then the question, “who do you think you are”?

Of course I never had an answer but if it was my Dad asking my Mom would usually answer with “you’re getting too big for your own britches”, whatever that means. When I evaluate that same question in my adulthood, it causes me to consider my actions and re adjust my attitude.

In 1^st Corinthians 10 Paul uses the example of the Israelites and their trek through the wilderness, how all participated in the same blessings of God and yet not all followed.  He says that we should look to this time in history as an example and to examine the error of their ways, he says, “Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted”.

“Lust after evil things”? When I think about the road that leads to me thinking I’m something that I’m not it’s usually because my desires are turned inward and “self” is in control. That’s when verse 13 comes into play, to hear the Holy Spirit ask that question “who do you think you are”?

When we fall into the temptation of the things the Apostle John warned us about in 1^st John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world”, we are living too big for our own britches. The key verse in 1^st Corinthians is that we are to look for the way of escape, because He will always provide one.

I remember a time when my kids were young and the oldest threatened the younger. When I told my daughter she shouldn’t talk to her brother that way it didn’t hold much weight, but then in a more stern voice I reminded her that she was threatening “my” son, well, that got her attention. So, in the Christian circles we fellowship in, when we forget who we are and who it is we are talking to regarding our brothers and sisters in Christ, if that relationship doesn’t curb our actions, maybe we need to be reminded we are addressing God’s child and hear him asking, “Who do you think you are?”. Scary, right?

The moral of the story and I believe the message of 1^st Corinthians 10 is unbelievers are watching how we treat one another, Paul ends this chapter with a charge to us all.

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God,  just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.”  Rob Russomano is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves full time at America’s Keswick. You can write him at rrussomano@americaskeswick.org

Daily Bible Reading: Numbers 26-28; Matthew 2

Think About This: The habit of introspection may be abused, to divert the eyes of the soul too much from Christ. —R.L. Dabney

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways. Proverbs 28:6 ESV