The Dangers of Pride

Summary

In this episode, Garrett discusses the importance of gaining margin in our lives and examines the tendency to prioritize our own desires over the glory of God. He emphasizes the need to identify and confess the idols in our hearts and to focus on building the kingdom of God rather than our own kingdoms. Garrett encourages listeners to release control and trust in God's plan, recognizing that everything else we build in this world will eventually fade away.

Takeaways

It's important to gain margin in our lives and not overcommit ourselves.
We need to examine our motives and ensure that we are prioritizing the glory of God over our own desires.
We must identify and confess the idols in our hearts and be willing to let go of them.
Building the kingdom of God should be our focus, rather than building our own kingdoms.
We should seek accountability and be aware of the dangers of pride.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Housekeeping
02:01 Change in Format
04:07 Gaining Margin in Our Lives
08:47 Identifying and Confessing Idols
11:31 Building God's Kingdom
12:42 Conclusion

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Transcript

0:01

What's up, faithful agents? Welcome back to another episode of the Faithful Agent Podcast. Obviously, that's why you're here. If you didn't know that's what you're listening to, then I actually don't know what to tell you. But anyways, it's great to have you here today. A few housekeeping items before we dive into this. I would love to connect with any and all of you. Check me out on my social at Instagram, Garrett Maroon, G -A -R -R -E -T -T -A -R-O -O -N, or you can email me, garrett at faithfulagent .com. Always would love to connect with anybody in our community. I love the Christian agent community, want to serve in any way that I possibly can. So again, Connect with me on Instagram, Garrett Maroon, or shoot me a message, garrett at faithfulagent .com. Would love to connect with any and all of you. It's such a joy and honor to serve this community and be part of the Christian agent community as we continue to grow. Be on the lookout as we have a conference coming up soon, more details to be announced probably next week, which is super exciting. It'll be our fourth conference. And if you've never come and been part of, a group of Christians, a large group of Christians, all in the same room, all doing the same thing, all trying to learn and grow together. I literally can't describe it. It's that incredible. And it's ruined all other conferences for me. I literally don't want to go to any other conferences because it's just so incredible to be in the room with that many believers, with that many brothers and sisters who love Jesus and are in real estate. Yes, there are actual Christians in real estate, believe it or not. But it is a joy to be with you all, so be on the lookout for that. If you're not in a local group, check out our local groups. Go to faithfulagent .com and click on local groups and you will find one. Or you can start one. Again, we care deeply about cultivating the Christian community all around the country. So you can be the catalyst for that in your area, or you can join one that already exists and grow with other Christian agents. It is such a joy to do that. So today's a little bit different. because it's just me riding solo on this Thursday episode. It's going to be a shorter episode and we didn't do a Tuesday short this past week. Quite honestly, it's just to buy back some of my time. I've been working a lot, having a lot of different things going on and honestly, my margin just isn't there and we're going to talk about that here in a second, but my margin just isn't there. And so one of the things I'm doing for this season is pulling back on the Tuesday episodes, just doing a Thursday episode. Not typically it's going to be me and a guest or me and Tyler. But for today, it's going to look a little bit different. So I appreciate the grace and allowing me to hop on here and just run with this myself. I hope that I can share some helpful insight for you today in a way that's going to serve you in your family and your business and your faith. So before we dive in, as always, I asked Chachi PT to tell me a funny Christian short story. So here we go. There was a chicken who had lived a good, faithful life. Good start. OK. One day she found herself standing at the pearly gates eager to meet St. Peter. Welcome, St. Peter said, smiling warmly. You've led a good life and you're welcome to enter heaven. But first I have to ask you one question. The chicken nodded eagerly. What St. Peter began is your favorite Bible verse. The chicken thought for a moment and then clucked. John 16 33 St. Peter raised an eyebrow. That's an interesting choice. Would you mind reciting it for me? The chicken took a deep breath and said. in this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the hen St. Peter burst into laughter clapping the chicken on the back welcome to heaven my friend that's the best version I've heard yet that doesn't make any sense that's such a terrible joke that's fantastic okay so wow that is so bad man how do I recover from how that just does anyways okay Let's refocus here a little bit. Alright, here's the reality of what I want to talk to us about today. So, how do we gain margin? One of the challenges that I have, that I personally have, that I was actually processing through this morning in my own quiet time, was asking the Lord, if I'm completely honest, was just asking the Lord and confessing to the Lord quite honestly of saying, I often say that my entire focus is Christ. and that whatever he wants me to do along the way, the byproduct of that is I will do whatever he calls me to do and I will seek to do it well. But guys, if I'm honest, I was convicted this morning thinking that a lot of my focus is actually myself. It's my own comfort, it's my own opportunities, it's my own financial gain, it's... you know, whatever these things are that the focus is really me. And if the Lord has things along the way that he wants me to do that line up with what I want to do, then that's fine. I'll do them. But otherwise, I'm going to go after what I desire. And I'm just being honest with you guys. I think that it's really easy to convince ourselves that what we're doing is for the sake of Christ, when really it's building our own kingdom and we just claim Christ along the way. You know, it's a really fine line to walk. It's a difficult thing because a lot of people, myself included, sometimes will say, no, no, my business is about glorifying the Lord. But if you look at the decisions I make or you look at the things that I'm doing, it's about business first and it's about the Lord second. And if the Lord fits into the business goals, then sure, He can come along. But if He doesn't, then I'm going to go my own way and I'm going to ask them to take care of it anyways, right? We so easily convince ourselves that we're operating out of a gospel mindset. We so easily convince ourselves that whatever it is that we're doing is the right thing. And the Bible says that our hearts are wickedly deceitful, that our hearts are idle factories, that we love things that we shouldn't, that we think on things more than we should, that I was listening to a song this morning, an old Jimmy Needham song, if you know him, called Clear the Stage. And it's about clearing the stage and setting the idols ablaze so that we can just throw them before the throne and trust in God. And he says, anything I want before my God is an idol. Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol. And it struck me because there's things, work things that I'm doing, organizations I'm building, things I'm excited about that dominate my thought life. And it's not, Tyler said it once on the podcast, it's not that I get distracted by the glory of the Father. I get distracted by the opportunities of the world. And again, it's okay, brother and sister, to desire to have good opportunities and to do them well. But the truth is in my own... and maybe in yours, but the truth is in my own heart there are idols that I don't even count as idols because they're good things, right? They are for, I'm working for the glory of the Father or you're providing for your family or you say that your business is about the Lord and you want to honor Him and all that you do and we're just giving Him lip service, right? At the end of the day, even the faithful agent, which is about serving Christian agents can become an idol. in my own life. If I'm thinking about it all the time, if I'm getting distracted by the faithful agent during my quiet time, is it not an idol? If I'm getting distracted by my real estate transactions while I'm trying to pray, is it not an idol? And it doesn't mean those things aren't real, brothers and sisters. It doesn't mean that wrestling with those things is not hard. It doesn't mean that wrestling with those things is is not the Lord saying, hey, I understand, come to me if you're weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest from these things. But it does mean, and it makes me wonder in my own heart, what am I actually trying to build? Is it for the glory of the Lord or is it for the building of Garrett's kingdom? And what is actually going on in my heart? And we have to stop and ask those things because we create idols, we hang on to things that we should not hang on to. I desire to create things that I should not desire to create and I can do it all in the name of Jesus but not actually be working for Jesus. And so brother and sister, we've got to stop and confess the truth behind that. We've got to stop and say, Lord, here it is. I'm laying it at your feet. And Father, allow me and teach me that when I'm thinking about the faithful agent that I get distracted by your glory. When I am... a podcast that I get distracted by the amazing beauty of Christ. When I'm out there meeting new clients, whatever it is that I'm doing, when I'm out there showing homes, when I'm in the middle of a negotiation, when I'm on social media, when I'm reading an email, whatever it is, that instead of thinking about the Lord and being distracted by work, what if we were at work getting distracted by the beauty and mercy of a great God? And man, that's hard. And that doesn't happen that often in my life. So much for me plays out because I don't have margin. I schedule myself so tight because I'm convinced that I'm the one that needs to bring all these things about. Instead of releasing to the Lord and saying, Lord, show me what is it specifically that you desire of me? I want to be excellent at just that. I want to be excellent at that. I often try to be every part of the body of Christ, right? I wanna be the hands and the feet and the mouth, and I'm definitely a mouth, because I can't stop talking, but I wanna be all of these pieces. When scripture is clear, I didn't make you to be all these pieces, right? The elders and the apostles in the early, in Acts, as they were building the church, they said, we shouldn't be the ones serving as well. We need to be teaching, we need to be training. So they raised up deacons, right? There's specific roles that are being played. in the body of Christ and yet we tend to think I can be all of those things so I try to be all of those things. You look at my schedule, you see no margin and you look and you think, well, Garrett's just trying to serve everybody when the truth is it's the pride in me that says if I don't show up, what's gonna happen? Instead of saying, no, Lord, this is the mission that you gave me. I will stay on this path. I will do just this because this is who you made me to be, who you want me to serve, how you want me to serve. And if something else comes along, no matter how excellent it might seem to me, I will release that and say, you know what, Lord, you've raised someone else up to do that as well. I don't have to be all things to all people. I'm not the savior of the world by any stretch of the imagination. But how easy is it, brothers and sister, for us to say in our actions, in our thoughts, in what we're doing, hey, come to me and I'll take care of you, as opposed to saying, hey, brother, sister, turn towards Christ. There, find your rest. It's just a confession that we have to make. Are we building our own kingdom or are we building the kingdom of the Lord? Be honest about it. You know, as I was struck this morning by how even these good things like the faithful agent can become such an idol in my own life. We have to be weary. We have to be wise. We have to have accountability because pride will come to devour us. That's what it wants. Pride wants to kill us. Pride wants us to in total honesty, drag us into hell for eternity. But Christ in his goodness and kindness came and died on the cross. He lived the life that we should have lived and never could. He earned righteousness with the Father. He then willingly took on the cross and all of our sins past, present and future. He died and descended into hell, but three days again, he rose, three days from then, he rose again and now is seated at the right hand of the Father and has left us the spirit to indwell and be with us. That's the God that we serve. And the truth is everything else that we build here is gonna burn down. every brokerage we're part of, every deal that we do, every house that we sell, all of it will fade away, but the word of the Lord will remain forever. So brother and sister, what are we building for? Who are we building for? What idols do we have that need to be burnt down? What idols do we need to lay at the feet of the cross? I love you. This is hard for me too. Pray for one another as I pray for you. I love you, faithful agents. I'll see you next week.