Sinfully proud?

At our Women Discipling Women meeting the other night, we watched a video of a sermon by Martha Peace. The topic was 'Hurt Feelings'. It was a really great sermon for oh so many reasons. It helped show us how thinking about our feelings isn't the biblical response. She had a chart that showed what we think vs the biblical response. I didn't write any of her examples down but it was something along the lines of (going to the extreme):

We think: They didn't take my advice, they must think I'm stupid.
Biblical response: They have the freedom to make their own choices. This is not a sin issue, I will pray that their choice works out well for them.

She had several examples (and I'm now wishing I had written them down) like this one. It was such an amazing eye opener. But she also said one thing that is really sticking with me. She said "Overly sensitive = sinfully proud". At first I disagreed with this. You see I am not a proud person. However, I am very shy and rather sensitive. But the more I think about it, the more I see her point. By being shy I am afraid of getting hurt, or putting myself out there. Being shy is all about me.The same thing applies to being sensitive. When I focus on myself and how I feel about the situation, it isn't glorifying God. By being shy and sensitive, I am being self absorbed. Wow! I totally didn't see that before!

So now, I have to step out of my self protective shell, and start living to please God, not myself. Part of declaring Him Lord of my life, is trusting Him. It doesn't matter what others think of me (so there is no reason to be shy), because I don't live to please men, for if I was striving to please men, I wouldn't be a slave of Christ. When I allow others to hurt my feelings it's usually because they are disappointed in me, or something else about me. And again, if I am living to please them, I can not be called a slave of Christ. Does this mean that I will never have my feelings hurt? No, of course not. But it does mean that I need to think biblically about each situation and determine why I am feeling the way I am. Then decide if I really should be hurt by what has happened.

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. ~ Galatians 1:10

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