EASY AS PRIDE

Ol’ Ned was about to die of thirst on July 3, 1863. But it was so needless, all the neighbors said: after all, there was a gallon of water sitting before him in the middle of a field.

“Why doesn’t he just get out of that ditch,” Mr. G.I. Dunn said. “God helps those who help themselves.”
“I know I would never put my kids through such heartache,” replied Mrs. Nellie Patufnic.
“It’s obvious he just doesn’t have faith,” Reverend Copenhagen claimed. “I gave him my six steps to six gallons of water in six days and he still just sits there.”

An earth shaking explosion, too close for comfort sent them scurrying for shelter . . . in the foxhole with Ned.

At the Battle of Gettysburg.

Did this really happen? No, but the point is clear: what may seem as easy as pride for you, may be anything but simple for someone else, because of the battle arrayed against them. Paul was hindered from going to Rome while for others it was no big deal to go spend the day at the Roman Mall. David fought battles in his flesh that Saul seemingly never struggled with—it appears that Saul was the husband of one wife. And yet David was "head and shoulders" above Saul in matters of faith and repentance.

“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place” (2 Corinthians 2:14).