Is your love for Christ arrogant?
More of what love is NOT…
God’s love is not puffed up or arrogant. In other words, the Lord never belittles you. Some might say that God is arrogant toward Job (Job 38-40:2), but at that point Job has made himself equal with God and implied that he would never do what he perceives God has done. Instead, God simply makes known to Job that his understanding is vastly incomplete and enlightens him. God does not seek to humiliate Job. God does not say, “Shut up, Job, you’re dirt and I’m awesome,” even though that would be a true statement. One example of God’s absence of arrogance is expressed when Jesus washes the feet of His disciples and instructs us to do the same. However, the best example is that of God (as described in Job 38-39) becoming a man and dying on the cross for our sin even though our best efforts to be holy are filthy rags.
How does your love for the Lord measure up? Have you expected the Lord to answer your prayers according to your own timing rather than His? Have you come to Him demanding or at least expecting that somehow your relationship with Him deserves greater honor, status, or authority than some other person? Do you believe that you can demand supernatural things to take place in His name for the sole reason that your love for Him is so great? Jesus rebuked James and John for wanting to call fire from heaven because their expression of what they thought was love for Christ was actually arrogance.
The best way to approach the Lord is in the manner we see Jesus approach others in the Gospels. Even though all things were created through Him, He never expects or requests special privileges. He often goes out of His way to be humble towards people, even those who hate Him. May our love for Christ be completely void of arrogance, and may our love for others be the same.
1 Corinthians 13:4—…[love] is not puffed up/arrogant…
Note: i'm not suggesting that we should never pray in Jesus' name for supernatural things, just that the sole motivation for doing so be for the Lord's purposes and glory, not our own.