During our recent staff retreat, we had several sessions led by a pastor from Florida named Paul Smith. In one of his talks, he spoke of living life from the upper room versus living life from the lower room. The upper room represents living a life with God - living with passion for God, worshiping and trusting Him, growing in and obeying Him. The lower room represents living in the flesh - living for self, desiring control, needing to define life in terms that meet my needs. It hit me that I had mostly been operating out of the lower room mentality.
The table below was very helpful for me, so I wanted to share it - mostly for my own benefit. So that I won't forget - so I won't go back to living in the lower room. I do not know the source, but I do know that it is not me. It is rather long, so I am planning to share it in segments over the next few days.
| Proud people | Broken people |
| 1. Focus on the failures of others | 1. Are overwhelmed with a sense of their own spiritual need |
| 2. Are self righteous; have a critical, fault-finding spirit; look at everyone else's faults with a microscope, but their own with a telescope; look down on others | 2. Are compassionate; can forgive much because they know how much they have been forgiven; esteem all others better than themselves |
| 3. Have an independent, self-sufficient spirit | 3. Have a dependent spirit; recognize their need of others |
| 4. Have to prove that they are right | 4. Are willing to yield the right to be right |
| 5. Claim rights; have a demanding spirit | 5. Yield their rights; have a meek spirit |
| 6. Are self-protective of their time, their rights, and their reputation | 6. Are self-denying |
| 7. Desire to be served | 7. Are motivated to serve others |
| 8. Desire to be a success | 8. Motivated to make others a success |
| 9. Desire self-advancement | 9. Desire to promote others |
| 10. Have a drive to be recognized, to be appreciated, are wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked | 10. Have a sense of their own unworthiness and are thrilled that God would use them in any ministry; are eager for others to get credit and rejoice when others are lifted up |
For part 2, click here.
So very glad you are sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteSusan
I am so glad that you shared this. God has been dealing with me about this. As a mother, I have taken up expectations about parenting that have bred pridefulness in me into all areas of my life, and my kids, as you can see on the blog, are far from perfect, but He is bringing me back to the right position with Him. Such a good illustration. I can't wait to see more.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you back in town. I missed you in blog world. :)
Good stuff, Shirley! Thanks!
ReplyDelete