Blue has a new frisbee. Blue being our new one year old Australian Shepherd dog. It’s a special frisbee. Bright fluorescent yellow and kind of soft so Blue can catch it and not bang up his mouth. I’ve always wanted a frisbee dog, so here I go teaching Blue to play fetch with a frisbee. The very first step in the training is teaching him a high level of desire for the frisbee. You have to get Blue so interested in the frisbee that he wants it more than anything else in life at that moment. So here I am out in the yard waving this frisbee around and offering Blue tons of crazy baby talk encouragement to build up his interest in the frisbee. (The neighbors already think I’m crazy, so this is all perfectly ok) The end goal is to get him to chew on, bite, chase down and even jump high into the air to catch the thing that he desires so greatly. And if you think about it, when it comes to what we really want; what we highly desire in life, we are not much different than Blue in what we’ll do to get it.
In my life I have I have experienced this and I’m sure that you have also. Something in your life that like Blue’s frisbee, was the single object of your desire. It could be a job, a person, a car, a promotion, a relationship, a house, status or even a certain amount of money in the bank. As we set our minds on our goals, it seems everything else in our lives revolves around it as it becomes the sun in our own personal solar system. We chase it, we pursue it, we long for it and we dream about it. Our desire fueled by our pride can drive us to great lengths to get exactly what we want.
I think we can all agree that not all of our desires are healthy. And here lies the caveat. If our desires are singularly fueled by our pride, then they are therefore fueled by sin. You see, we are all at our foundation, sinful creatures. Because of the fall of mankind in the garden, all of us are on a very level playing field. We are all at our core, sinners against God. And friends, all means all.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
But praise God, if you have called upon Jesus Christ to save you from your sin, you have been gifted the very Spirit of God. God’s Holy Spirit lives within a believer to correct and convict as it relates to sin in our lives. As a result, we have two different entities that inhabit our heart. Our old nature that has a propensity towards sin, and our new nature that desires the truth and goodness of God. The old nature desires to continue in our regular and well-worn path of sin and the new desires to simply do the very will of God. So, as we carefully examine the desires we are pursuing today, we have to truthfully question exactly where they were derived from. Are we desiring the things of God or is our pride taking us down a selfish, pride-filled rabbit trail?
Today, we are looking at Judges chapter 9 and we find the story of Abimelech. Recall that his father, Gideon, was the focus of the last three chapters of Judges and because of that we know that Gideon had 70 sons from his myriad of wives and concubines. None of this was condoned by God and as we will see today, where God is rejected, chaos ensues. We open our story clearly seeing Abimelech’s frisbee, he wants to rule. His singular desire is to be king over others. And we will see him chase his selfish, prideful desire to the end today. Abimelech will be king, in his power, and without God.
The first thing you will notice about the pursuit of selfish pride is that we have to sell it. We can’t achieve it on our own, we need followers and helpers. Abimelech quickly cons the people of Shechem into buying into his prideful pursuit. They even give him 70 pieces of silver out of the treasury of the local temple of the false god Baal. “A work begun under the name and influence of the devil is not likely to end to the glory of God, or to the welfare of man.” (Clarke) And so with some seed money and a plan within his sinful heart, he sets off to chase his frisbee.
He immediately uses the money and his silver tongue to sell “reckless fellows” on his pursuit. The next move? To murder all 69 of his brothers thus ensuring his reign as king will never be interrupted. Abimelech succeeds except for one brother that does just that, eventually interrupts his reign as king. We’ll tap the brakes for a second to look at one chilling part of the story that has tremendous truth and application for us today. Abimelech has 1,000 of his enemies cornered in a tower, trapped like birds in a cage. And in his singular prideful pursuit, Abimelech leads his followers in an attack that is beyond brutal.
“And Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the men who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done.” So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abimelech put it against the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about 1,000 men and women.” Judges 9:48b-49
His murderous, selfish, prideful pursuit has taken Abimelech to places I’m sure he never thought he would go. It is no different with us even today. The one verse that shakes me is, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done.” You see, as we pursue the desires of our sinful side, we can have great influence on others. We can, being blinded by our desire, recruit others into our plan of debauchery and evil. As we blindly pursue our sinful desires we can, sometimes unknowingly, affect lives around us in a horrible way. Abimelech drew men into murder. Do as I do, drew lives directly into the path of his sin.
Today, are you pursuing the things of God or are you in the pursuit of pride? Are you seeking the things of this world or are you seeking the ways of God? Your pride will take you one direction and God’s Holy Spirit will take you in the polar opposite. And as you analyze your true intent today, you have to ask yourself, what do my actions say? What does my influence upon others ask them to do? Am I recklessly asking others to join my own pursuit of pride or am I doing just the opposite and allowing others to join the mission of Jesus in my life?
You see, regardless of whether or not you view yourself as a leader, you have great influence in life. Regardless of who you are, what you do, or where you live, someone is watching you. They are watching how you treat others, how you speak to those around you, and how you react to the trials of this life. And in these decisions, you have great influence on all those that are watching you. Don’t diminish the fact, that just like Abimelech, you can influence people to join you in your pursuit, good or bad.
Today, pursue the things of God. Forgo the pursuit of pride. Love God, love others, and share the good news that Jesus can save any life on this planet from the death of their sin. Make these your frisbee and chase them with relentless joy, passion, purpose, and desire. And as you do, influence others to share in your purpose and watch God use you as His beautiful servant.
If you’re reading this, you’re being prayed for.

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