Always Reforming

It's instinct.  Someone with funny clothes or messy hair walks past you and you smile.  Maybe you laugh a little.  You can't help but to criticize him/her.  It's human nature, right?  Why is it that we humans are so inherently condescending?  Anyone who is different from us is automatically open for ridicule.  We're constantly searching for ways to critique those around us, even, or perhaps especially, those to whom we are closest.  We do it at work.  We do it at home.  We do it school.  We most certainly do it at church!  Sometimes we do it verbally, either by harsh words or passive aggressive sarcasm.  Sometimes we do it by the look in our eyes.  Sometimes we keep the thoughts to ourselves, despising others in our hearts.  Whatever our personality may be, we express our disdain for others differently.  We all seem to struggle with being critical of others. Why is this?  Is is pride?  I think so...

   My generation gets a bad rap from preceding generations.  We are lazy, fat, stupid, and selfish, or so they say.  Some of these may be exaggerations, while others are simply projections of insecurities upon us by our parents' generation, but there is one area in which I am sure we are guilty. We, my peers, are a proud generation.  We know best.  We will not listen to anyone.  We are all experts.  We are all linguists, chemists, biologists, historians, political scientists, and doctors.  We have no need to be taught and don't know how to shut up.  Our opinion is valid as valid as anyone else's.     I've struggled to find an answer to why this is the case.  Is it the moral relativity that has been taught in public schools?  Is it the entitlement mentality that has be ingrained into our social consciousness?  Is it all that positive reinforcement we were given as children?  Is it the carefree, entertainm...

                              Proverbs 29:23 "One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor."     It’s a sin that goes back all the way to the Garden of Eden.  I’m talking, of course, about pride.  I’d like to take a quick look at pride and see three basic things: 1) why pride is so heinous; 2) how to identify it in our hearts; and 3) what the cure is.     Pride is one of those sins that is mentioned throughout the Bible.  The book of Proverbs especially condemns it.  Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”  Proverbs 16:5 tells us, “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” And yet again, Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.”  Prid...