Working in Secret

Genesis 3:1-7

1.     How did Satan use the human tendency for vanity as leverage in his temptation of Adam and Eve?

First the serpent asked Eve if God told them they couldn’t eat of any tree in Eden. So Satan was inquiring of Eve’s knowledge. Anyone loves to be approached with inquiries of which they have the answer. Then he told Eve that they would be like God if they ate of the forbidden tree and nothing is greater than God. Satan showed Eve that she could become like her master through her own actions.

How does the enemy still use this same tactic for temptation in the world today?

Donald Miller writes of the Lifeboat Theory in his book The Search for God Knows What. The idea is that we humans are all sitting in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean and our only desire is to prove that we are the most worthy to stay within the lifeboat. If someone must be thrown overboard in order to save the many, it should not be us because we are smart or beautiful or wealthy or useful.

Satan continually asks us to compares ourselves to others. Unlike Eve, Satan does not need for us to compare ourselves to God Himself. Any old Joe will do. Satan does not want us to love each other for the unique gifts that make us who we are. He wants us to be jealous of those traits that others have that we wish we had. Satan either show us how we’re better than someone else so that we can remain in the lifeboat OR he shows us how the other person is superior to ourselves to ourselves so that we can belittle the other person or act against them to gain an upper hand.

2.    John says, “Pride is essentially comparative in nature.” How does comparing ourselves to others do one of the following:

a.     Breed pride – Don’t we love to look at others and say, “I’m so glad I am not like so-and-so. That I have a good head on my shoulders,” if we find ourselves superior to another. Or if we find ourselves inferior, we might very well belittle the other’s gifts. “They are very good in the realm of hospitality, but they certainly cannot form a convincible statement.” We are always out to step on another to put our heads above the crowd.

b.    Destroy community – It certainly doesn’t do a bit of good in the lifeboat to keep such thoughts to ourselves. We must win the other lifeboaters to our own side. We also like to find someone to attach ourselves to in order to boost our pride. So we gossip and strategically move people that could affect our standing in the lifeboat, lower on the totem pole in the minds of the other passengers.

c.     Function as a kind of anti-love – We cannot love others when we are so busy loving ourselves. When you truly love someone you put them above you in rank. You are willing to have them stand on your shoulders so that they can be seen. We reserve this kind of love for our own. Our children.

3.    How does our society affirm and even encourage a prideful spirit?

Every commercial, every sound bite, every item on the market to buy is out to make you a better person. If there are competing items, say a Mac and a PC, the marketing is geared to fill you with a sense of pride in the very applications you have versus what the other doesn’t. Where this and be loved. Smell like this and be loved. Be the envy of everyone else by driving this car. You are not good enough unless you have one of these. You are not a part of the in-crowd unless you have membership at this place.

What consequences does this pride-affirming ethos have on the fabric of our culture?

We spend all of our time and money and energy on chasing things to make us feel like we are better than everyone else. And it is very lonely at the top. No one likes the people who sit at the top of the mountain and lord it over everyone else. Having all these things does not fill us up. Rather, it leaves us feeling very empty and wanting more. We can never get enough in this manner. Besides, there is always a new gadget to own. So it rips our culture apart, much like pride rips apart community. It separates us into the haves and the have-nots. And never forget that there are the have-nothings who cannot even attempt to compete in the race. Certainly, it sends the wrong message … you may not be able to clothe or feed or shelter your children or provide them medical attention, but as long as you have a tattoo, or a new piercing, or a gold tooth, or the latest iPhone, you’re still in the running.

4.    Read the quote by Richard Foster. How can service – and specifically hidden service – act as a remedy for pride?

For one thing, for myself, when I throw myself into service, I don’t have time for anything else. My mind is consumed with the act and my hands are busy as well. The worst thing might be that I turn my pride in wanting to please others. I would bend myself over backwards to make someone or some people happy. It is no longer my happiness, but their satisfaction that is important. Of course, if they are happy and content then I will be also. Double-edged sword. I refer to the Friends episode. The one I always refer to where Phoebe tries to perform a good deed without recognition – a good deed that goes unnoticed and unthanked. Most importantly – a good deed for which she is not made happy by doing it.

What keeps us from offering more acts of secret service?

It is very hard to perform acts of secret service. And when you succeed, there is the desire to announce that you succeeded. Even now, I sit and wonder what I could do that would be a secret. I am privy to certain information and by fulfilling a wish, it would be very obvious that I would be the only one to pull it off … It is hard to give money in anonymity. Somebody must know what you’re doing. I guess, perhaps, to do something that you recognize needs to be done, but no one else recognizes is a problem is an act of secret service. Seeing a piece of gum on the floor and picking it up rather than passing it by. It’s not like you’re going to go around and show it off …

But when you give to the needy,
do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
so that your giving may be in secret.
And you Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:3-4 (ESV)