See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright

but the righteous will live by his faith

I love this scripture, it has so many great reminders for me!

I love the connection between FAITH and DESIRE. Faith can become a powerless word: encompassing everything which ends up in meaning nothing practical. Desire is a practical word. You can’t get around it. Every day is filled with hundreds of desires that can be immediately identified with a moment of reflection. One of THE MOST TANGIBLE expressions of our faith is in our desires. Desire is the language of faith and a person’s life is defined by their desires. You show me a person’s desires, and I’ll show you what they believe in and what they are living for.

I love the connection between DESIRE and PRIDE. When we want the wrong things, we get puffed up. That’s the only result and it happens every time. How? Left to our natural instinct and intuition, we want things that are easily within our reach. Things that can be accomplished by our own power. IT’S a cycle that is SIMPLE BUT SICK to the core: we want what we can get, we get it, our sense of self-sufficiency puffs up. REPEAT UNTIL SELF DESTRUCTION.

I love the contrast between PUFFED UP and UP RIGHT. It’s possible to be righteous, to be in right standing before God. Puffed up is wrong, but so is cowering in the corner, surrounded by a cocoon of fear. We can stand before God, upright, in the confidence that is based on the redemptive work of Christ. (in the time of Habakkuk, the same thing was true, but it was faith in the Father’s promises and redemptive work). This is faith, the way it ought to be.

I want to ABNORMALIZE my desires, standing up before the King, and not puffed up by my petty wants.

+mattmcgill