AfterWords: Seven Deadly Sins / Life-Giving Virtues: Pride

 

Philippians 2:1-8

When our Christian ancestors left the cities and headed into the deserts in the 3rd and 4th Centuries AD, they truly thought they were fleeing the sins that weighed them down. But, when they got to their destinations and began building their new communities, they found that their sins had come with them. The deadliest of sins, pride, snuck up on them as they patted themselves on the back for making their escape, for being better and holier for having made their journey.

While there is a form of pride that is not a sin—that pride we take in a job well done, that pride in our children for their accomplishments—there is a pride that sets us above everyone else…and has us look down on those who have not become what we have, who don’t have the things we have. This is the pride of self-love. And, this kind of pride is deadly—robbing us of life-giving relationships and damaging our relationship with God.

Jesus shows us this pride in his parable of the pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18. The pharisee boasts of his holiness in prayer; the tax collector recognizes his utter lack before God. Jesus lifts up the tax collector as the hero in the story, as the one we’re to emulate.

Pride grows out the false perception that who we are and what we have is all our own doing. We think we are self-made men and women. Just a moment of thought and reflection reveals that we did not chose our own genetics; we did not give life to ourselves; we did not teach ourselves to read, write, and do simple arithmetic; we have not inspired ourselves. Tens if not hundreds of people have contributed to our lives. Yes, we may have made the best of what we have, but we are not the source of what we have.

When we watch the many music, TV, and movie awards shows (Academy Awards, CMT, etc.), the one commonality we find in the acceptance speeches of these great, creative, often-wealthy, amazing people is how many people they give thanks to confirming that who they are and what they’ve done comes from many people in their lives. Even they show us that we are not of our own making.

Scripture makes it very clear—there is no room for pride in the life of Christians. Not only are we able to come to the conclusions that logic offers above, but we also have the Scriptures that remind us we are ultimately made by God, created by God. We cannot be a people of pride—self-love—nor can we be a people of the opposite: self-loathing. We are not 'everything,' and we are not 'nothing.' We are completely loved and valuable to God. So, we let go of pride by embracing the middle way of humility—Christian humility. That is, we recognize who we are before God…who each and every human being is before God—created by God, loved by God, valued by God.

Sunday, July 27, 2025
“Seven Deadly Sins Life-Giving Virtues”
Watch/Listen: HERE

AfterWords: Seven Deadly Sins...Life-Giving Virtues: Envy

 

James 3:13-18

“Oh, how I wish I had what he has!” “If only I could enjoy that kind of vacation….” “My life would be so much better if I had a spouse like that.” “I wish I could look like that!” Envy is born out of seeing what someone else has and wishing we had it…wishing it were ours and not theirs. “Envy is resentment or sadness at another’s good fortune or excellence, …is more than simple jealousy because it includes the belief that another’s excellence or blessings lessens one’s own….” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/envy)

Psychological and medical studies reveal that envy leads to anxiety, insomnia, depression, cancer, and cardiovascular disease—all from feeling like our lives are lacking compared to others. On television, in movies, and on social media, we see people living amazing lives, eating exotic foods, enjoying obviously fulfilling relationships with the most attractive, fun, or clever people. We make hundreds if not thousands of comparisons every day…and we find our lives wanting.

Interestingly, “envy” comes from the Latin “Invidia” which means “not-sight.” While we are seeing and comparing ourselves to what we see on screens and in neighbors’ yards and in the work place, there is so much that we do not see. You and I know people who look amazing on Facebook, who look happy and “put together.” But the reality behind the image is brokenness, pain, loss, anger, and a host of other things. We would do well to stop ourselves when we see someone who seems to have what we want and remember there is much we do not see.

In Mark 7, Jesus calls envy “evil,” and in I Cor. 13, Paul points out that envy has no place in the life of Christian love. Our Christian ancestors were very right to include this among the deadly sins—this sin of envy breaks relationships and robs us of life. So what do we do? As we have seen all through this study of deadly sins, we know that envy is best replaced than merely erased.

In Philippians 4:5-7, Paul calls us to reject anxiety (a direct effect of envy) and embrace a life of “thanksgiving,” of gratitude. Rather than compare ourselves to others, we become grateful for what we have. We recognize that we will always have those around who have more and better and newer…and we must realize that we will always have those around us who have less and older. Instead of comparing, imagine being content, realizing that we are blessed in what we do have. Let us learn to be a thankful people and let go of being an envious people. Paul reminds us, “…godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1 Tim. 6:6-7).

Sunday, July 20, 2025
“Seven Deadly Sins Life-Giving Virtues”
Watch/Listen: HERE

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[1] https://www.britannica.com/topic/envy

AfterWords: Seven Deadly Sins...Life-Giving Virtues -- Wrath

 

Romans 12:17-21

Today, we come to the sin of wrath…not be confused with mere anger. We all get angry from time to time. Jesus got angry. Paul got angry. Anger is a normal human emotion, and we’re told that anger grows out of our fears or our sense of injustice. When our child runs out in the street, we yell, we grab their arm…we’re angry…and we’re angry because we are afraid for our child’s life. When we see people robbed of basic services and rights, we get angry; when we see people taking advantage of the system, we get angry—both of these cause anger because a sense of justice is challenged.

But, wrath—in the context of these deadly sins—takes anger to the next level. Wrath means two things: 1) I have taken the offense personally, and 2) I want to get even; I want vengeance. On a national level, when we discovered that Osama Bin-Laden and al-Qaeda were responsible for the 9/11 attack on our country, we wanted vengeance. We began the “war on terror”…a war that continues to this day. On a personal level, we feel attacked or offended daily as we drive—especially if one lives in the Rio Grande Valley. People pull out in front of us, make incredibly dangerous U-turns, and cross three lanes of traffic at the last minute to make a sudden exit. And, of course, at work, in our communities, and even in our own families—we are offended, challenged, endangered…and we want revenge.

Paul’s letter to Romans tells us, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (12:19). We can be angry, but we can’t allow our anger to grow into wrath…something that moves us towards revenge. Paul simply echoes Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matt. 5:38-39). So, our Christian ancestors are right when they call this a ‘deadly sin’—it destroys relationships and robs us of life. We have got to abandon the attitudes and behaviors of wrath. How?

First, we accept and trust that what God says in Scripture is true. We believe it…and allow belief to impact our actions. God’s Word says God will get the revenge, God will set things right. Then, we stop planning revenge (for some of you, you’re not going to know what to do with all that spare time!) But, now that we know, we stop. Maya Angelou says, “When we know better, we do better.” Finally, we replace wrath with kindness. Paul writes, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21)

Besides, when has vengeance ever fixed a situation? When has revenge ever made things right? Never. When US Special Forces killed Bin-Laden in 2011, did it make things right, did we regain a sense of safety in America? When we jump in front of the bad driver and slow down just to "show them," does it really fix anything? So, we put aside wrath, and we respond with goodness and kindness—we pray for others, we allow others to go first, we presume they need something we don’t see. And, if there has been any injustice, we trust God to make things right--in God's way, at God's time. When we do, we let go of life-robbing attitudes and behaviors and embrace the life-giving way of Jesus.

Sunday, July 13, 2025
“Seven Deadly Sins Life-Giving Virtues”
Watch/Listen: HERE

AfterWords: "Seven Deadly Sins - Sloth"

 

Ephesians 4:11-15

The Scriptures have plenty to say about this week’s “deadly sin”—sloth or laziness. Proverbs 6 captures the sentiments of Scripture clearly:

⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard;
    consider its ways and be wise!
⁷ It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
⁸ yet it stores its provisions in summer
    and gathers its food at harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
    When will you get up from your sleep?
¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest—
¹¹ and poverty will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.

The message comes through loud and clear—no room for the lazy among the people of God. Paul echoes the same message in his writing: “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat’” (2 Thess. 3:10). We get the message—don’t be lazy loafers.

Today, we’ve taken lazy to new places—mainly to our minds. We have become lazy thinkers; we allow others to think for us. Paul has something to say about that as well. In Ephesians 6, Paul is concerned that “we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God.”  When we have that unity and knowledge, “then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Rather, we must be a people who insist on “speaking the truth in love.” Knowledge, truth--these we need to seek.

Today, we tend to be lazy thinkers. We tend to believe or accept anything that appears enough times on social media. We start to believe something if someone simply says it often enough. People still believe cracking our knuckles will lead to arthritis (not true). Folks believe “sugar free” is better for us (not true, unless one is an insulin dependent diabetic). Christians believe that God causes the suffering of this life (false—God is the Author of life and joy). After the horrific tragedy of the Hill Country Floods this past week, already hundreds (if not thousands) have posted on social media that the floods are “the wrath of God” or “God’s call for repentance” (not true—the floods are a symptom of our sin-broken world.)

Paul says we are to pursue knowledge and truth. That means we read, we study, we search for real answers. Jesus says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). When we really and truly know what Jesus teaches, we will find freedom…freedom from fear, freedom from the lies of the world around us. So, when ‘lazy’ creeps up on us, let us throw it off and do something—read, write, draw, cut the grass, help a friend. We reject and replace laziness with a life of creativity, productivity, activity…and when we do, our sleep is sweeter and the world is a better place.

Sunday, July 3, 2025
“Seven Deadly Sins Life-Giving Virtues”
Watch/Listen: HERE

AfterWords: Seven (Deadly Sins) Life-Giving Virtues

 

1 Timothy 6:17-19

Greed. We don’t have to look far to see the greed around us. We all know of Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg—people who are worth hundreds of billions of dollars—and we see that they want more. More, more, more. But, we need not focus on our billionaires. We look around our own cities, in our communities, and even in the mirror…and we find greed.

“Greed is defined as the immoderate love or desire for riches and earthly possessions. A person can also be greedy for fame, attention, power, or anything else that feeds one’s selfishness.”^[1] It’s a love or desire for more riches, more things. Last week’s look at gluttony revealed that far too many of us have much more than what we need. One of our greatest challenges is finding space to store our stuff—our unnecessary often redundant stuff.

But, there is another element of greed in our lives: time. We become greedy of our time. Perhaps it’s to be expected in this rapid, rushing world of ours. We only have so many hours in a day, and those hours—besides sleeping, eating, and working—become quickly filled with family activities, after hours Zoom meetings, spouses’ wishlists, and all of the other things that crave our time. Soon, we become greedy with our time…and we hold on every minute we can.

Where does greed come from—whether greed for money or greed for time? Greed is born out of fear…fear of not having enough, fear that we’ll need more than we already have. Since our God says hundreds of times in Scripture, “Fear not!”, we know that fear is not from God. In fact, Jesus gives us every reason not to fear, not to be afraid that we won’t have what we need. In his “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus reminds us that God provides, so we don’t need to live in fear of not having enough (Matthew 6:25-33).

As we have already seen, it is not enough to let go of greed; we need to replace the life-robbing (“deadly) attitudes and behaviors with life-giving virtues. Paul tells us in his letter to Timothy that Christians are not “to put their hope in wealth,…but to put their hope in God…to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (1 Tim. 6:17-18). We replace our greed with generosity.

The poet, Maya Angelou, says this: “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” We find freedom in trusting God and letting go of fear. I have yet to hear anyone bemoan being generous with their resources or their time. Let us be a people of generosity, sharing our lives and resources as able with the world around us.

Sunday, June 29, 2025
“Seven Deadly Sins Life-Giving Virtues”
Watch/Listen: HERE

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[1] Ostberg and René, “Greed | Description, Deadly Sin, History, Bible, & Facts,” Encyclopedia Britannica, last modified July 14, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/greed.