Saul: Losing Self-Respect and a Kingdom - Part 1

One of the saddest stories in the Bible concerns Saul, the first king of Israel. Samuel, the spiritual leader and prophet for the nation, instructed Saul to wait until he arrived at a battle scene before engaging the enemy. Samuel was delayed for what seemed an inordinate amount of time. Saul became impatient and anxious.

Unable to endure the waiting, Saul disobeyed Samuel and God’s rules. He took upon himself the role of priest and offered a burnt and fellowship offering. You might ask, “So what’s the big deal?” From God’s viewpoint, it was deliberate disobedience and demonstrated disregard for God’s order.

Saul failed to exhibit endurance and wait patiently for God’s timing. Endurance enables a person to withstand the temptation to act impulsively. Endurance portrays the presence of mind and spirit to stand firm even under severe emotional strain. Self-respect, courage and integrity enable a person to trust God enough to follow his plan. 

Self-Respect Missing? Check Your Lifestyle - Part 2

Endurance is a powerful force designed by God to sustain life and help us stay focused on the purpose God sets before us to accept and carry out. Endurance serves as a pathway for discovering contentment and satisfaction with what we have rather than longing for what lies just ahead or behind us. Endurance equates to faithfulness.

In John 15:12-14 Jesus commands believers to “Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” Considering the degree of endurance required for this task, it is difficult but not impossible.

It is challenging to rearrange a lifestyle that currently does not fit. Thinking and feeling patterns are slow to conform. However, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to help us make transitions and build endurance. It doesn’t happen overnight, but for all who determine to endure, God is faithful to provide help and encouragement.

Self-Respect Missing? Check Your Lifestyle - Part 1

Peter Guralnick, Elvis Presley’s biographer, describes Elvis as a man of paradoxes who transformed music but could not transform himself. President Nixon appointed him to fight drugs, but he was a drug abuser until his death at age forty-two. Elvis chose what Jesus called the easy, broad way rather than the narrow way that leads to life.

One writer noted Elvis couldn’t cope with being a celebrity, so the decisions he was unable to make, made his life’s journey a trail of wasted choices. Because of careless choices, he fell deeper into misery, losing all evidence of self-respect and self-love.

How does a person obtain self-respect? It comes from choosing the narrow pathway that includes facing down the temptations of laziness and lust and refusing to make careless choices that lead to a wasted life. Self-respect comes from an abiding hope, trust in God’s word and personal faith in Christ Jesus. Hope and faith provide a strong foundation for persistence and endurance.