Series: On The Way to Joy: A Study in Philippians

02/24/08 | Tim Schaaf

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Hav ingdys lexiac anmake it hardtoread!

What is Dyslexia?

Mayo Clinic:

"Dyslexia is an impairment in your brain's ability to translate written images received from your eyes into meaningful language. Also called specific reading disability, dyslexia is the most common learning disability in children, affecting 5 percent or more of all elementaary-age children."

Stories

For many dyslexic children, the experience of reading and writing is like driving in a foreign country. Everything seems to be on the wrong side, going in the wrong direction. Everyone seems to be traveling faster than you. It requires exhausting concentration -- and you experience a sense of tension, fear and total isolation as everyone roars past, hooting and looking at you as if you were an idiot.

When you finally reach your destination, after many wrong turns and a circuitous route that has taken an insanely long time, you then have no desire ever to get behind the wheel again. Meanwhile, your hosts have gone off to a party without you.

And yet. And yet. You could excel behind the wheel, if only you were on familiar roads.  (Excerpt of an article by By Imogen Stubbs, a parent Published by an Australian newspaper)

I couldn't read. I just scraped by. My solution back then was to read classic comic books because I could figure them out from the context of the pictures. Now I listen to books on tape.--Charles Schwabb

He told me that his teachers reported that . . . he was mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in his foolish dreams. --Hans Albert Einstein, on his father, Albert Einstein

I was one of the 'puzzle children' myself -- a dyslexic . . . And I still have a hard time reading today. Accept the fact that you have a problem. Refuse to feel sorry for yourself. You have a challenge; never quit! --Nelson Rockefeller

FACTS

• In the United States, researchers estimate the prevalence of dyslexia to range from five to nine percent of school-aged children  (though some have put the figure as high as 17 percent)
• Dyslexia is particularly prevalent among small business owners, with roughly 20 to 35 percent of U. S. and British entrepreneurs being affected.
• Dyslexic people are visual, multi-dimensional thinkers. They are intuitive and highly creative, and excel at hands-on learning

SUMMARY - The problem with Dyslexia is between reality and perception.

• Reality is there, the words are in the right order, the numbers aren't jumbled
• But they are perceived wrongly
• Between the reality and the perception, there is a hiccup
• And that's where all the difficulties come in.

I bring this up, because as I've considered the subjects of humility and pride, it occurred to me that Pride is Dyslexia of the Soul.

1) Pride = Dyslexia of the Soul

"Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him."

Reality of the Life

Remember that we described dyslexia as a problem interpreting reality?

Reality is that everything good that we have is a gift from God.

James 1:17  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

If we were able to rightly interpret and respond to this reality, we would constantly be grateful to God for everything.

• A clear day is a gift from God
• The ability to buy a new car is a gift from God
• Good friends are a gift from God
• The growth of our children
• The success of our businesses

We would even be able to see that the difficult things in life work together for our good.

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

We Perceive Life Wrongly

Everything we've talked about - the good and the bad - should be points of data that constantly reinforce the fact that God is great and that we are completely dependent upon Him.

Instead, there is a hiccup between reality and our perception.

We look at the good things in our lives and often two emotions creep in:

Entitlement = I deserve this.

• Entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits because of rights, or by agreement through law.
• belief that he/she is deserving of some particular reward or benefit.

Example - Music Piracy

Recording Industry Association of America, efforts to stop illegal pirating of music.

Arguments for illegal downloads:

They argued that their lawbreaking and copyright infringement are justified because they believe the market is inefficient; or the RIAA and its members take too much money away from the artists (so therefore file sharers are entitled to take even more?); or that CDs are too expensive; or that copyright law is not properly structured to permit full technological innovation on the web - or all of the above. One student even argued that he needed to take the music because he does not have a credit card!

In sum, they offered one reason after another why they were entitled to their free music now. But they offered precious few plans to try to alter the system through legal channels--for example, by boycotting the elements of the industry they oppose, or by lobbying Congress.

File sharers may invoke policy arguments, but actions speak louder than words: They are not interested in the good of the system, but rather in their own selfish advantage. And so they feel they cannot be expected to wait for the system to change - or to work for that result. Calling this attitude a sense of entitlement may even be overly generous. Selfishness may be a better, and simpler, word.  (Professor Marci A. Hamilton at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University)

Entitlement creeps in mostly when bad things happen, or good things are held back.

• Its one thing to look forward to getting a promotion
• But its pride / entitlement to say "You deserve it."
• Look forward to getting married
• Are you entitled it?
• Loose your job and facing financial struggles
• Under all the frustration is a nagging sense that you don't deserve this. You are entitled to a better life, entitled to more money, entitled to more respect.

Accomplishment = I did this

If entitlement says "I deserve this", then accomplishment says "I did this"

Our souls look at the accomplishments God allows us to have and gives the glory to ourselves

ILL - Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4

Daniel 4:29-30 "... the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?"

Daniel 4:31-32  The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, "This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes

Daniel 4:34-37 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
       His dominion is an eternal dominion;
       his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

 35 All the peoples of the earth
       are regarded as nothing.
       He does as he pleases
       with the powers of heaven
       and the peoples of the earth.
       No one can hold back his hand
       or say to him: "What have you done?"

 36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

Nebuchadnezzar's problem = dyslexia of the soul

Facts - God had built the empire

His interpretation - He had done it himself

His soul was filled with accomplishment and entitlement

No room for gratitude or worship.

2) Effects of Pride

John Stott "Pride is more than the first of the seven deadly sins; it is itself the essence of all sin."

Why would someone steal money by fudging on their expense account?

• I have to pay out-of-pocket lots of things that should be comped...so I'm entitled to put this personal dinner on the company credit card and call it a business expense.

Why do many marriages end in divorce before every option of counseling and healing can be pursued?

• I am entitled to be happy, and you aren't making me happy.

Pride Elevates Ourselves

Over God

Over Others

• Pride looks for Power
• I want a vote
• I want my voice heard
• I want to decide what we do
• Pride is expressed with Money
• Withholding money to protest things at church
• Pride can be tied to Information
• I demand to know now
• I will take on the personal role of problem-solver and detective and sniff out the rumors...instead of taking this to the leadership and trusting them.

This doesn't mean that you are proud if you don't agree with everything

It's not proud to have questions

But once you have questions, disagreements or concerns, pride or humility will dictate what you do with those questions.

Calvin 

"God cannot bear with seeing his glory appropriated by the creature in even the smallest degree, so intolerable to Him is the sacrilegious arrogance of those who, by praising themselves, obscure His glory as far as they can."

Good way to think about pride:

• Am I looking at life in such a way that I am fighting with God for supremacy?
  • Its not just that I want a good job so that I can express by gifts and passions in a way that provides for my family and gives glory to God ... but that I feel like I deserve that job, and in that attitude I am fighting with God for supremacy of my work-life.
  • Its not just that I would like a relationship so that my God-given inner desire for intimacy can be fulfilled, but that I am frustrated with God for holding back something that I think I deserve, and in that attitude I am telling God that His control is not good enough and I'm trying to take matters into my own hands.

James 4:6  "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

3) Seeing Reality Clearly

Dyslexia - get out of the desk and engage the rest of your body

No real "cure" ... but there are ways to develop skills that will help perception conform to reality.

• Multi-sensory approach
• Practice to change the way you interpret the data

To see the universe clearly, look at Jesus

Phil 2:6-11 - READ IT

Where is Entitlement in Jesus' actions?

• He was entitled to Paradise
• Freely gave it up to be a slave
• He was entitled to live on this planet as a pampered King
• Freely gave that up to be crucified
• He was entitled the worship of every person just because of who he was
• God gave him the highest place after Jesus willingly chose the lowest

Where is Accomplishment?

How Do We "Have the Same Attitude as Jesus Christ?"

I've struggled with this.

I look at my Pride, then I look at Jesus and often think that my response should be "Try Harder To Be Like Jesus."

That often fails

• How many New Years Resolutions are still going?
• Sheer will-power will not allow us to be like Jesus.

That's why I like the analogy of Dyslexia.

The goal is not to try harder

            "Be more humble, Be more humble..."

The goal is to realize that I'm seeing life wrong.

My job in life is not to fill myself up with my accomplishments or to acquire everything I feel entitled too.

My goal in life is to be a servant.

Jonathon Edwards "If you ever find yourself saying, 'This act of devotion or love or service is certainly characterized by great humility,' you obviously are in the grip of great pride, for you have an unduly and sinfully exalted view of your place vis-à-vis God.  One thinks himself high and looks at his actions in comparison with his stature and thus regards it as truly humble that he should have performed such a service." ... a truly humble person knows his lowliness and sinfulness and thus, when he is brought lowest of all, it does not appear to him that his is brought below his proper station, but that he is not come to it.  He appears to himself yet vastly above it.  He longs to get lower, that he may come to it, but appears at great distance from it.  And this distance he calls pride.  And therefore his pride appears great to him, and not his humility.

4) Humility vs. Pride Changes everything we do.

Following Jesus

Religion vs. Gospel

Prayer in Pride vs. Prayer in Humility

Evangelism

Worship

Mentoring