"For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, PRIDE, and foolishness."Mark 7:21-22
Look within. See our ashen hearts. What lies just below the surface? Allow me to introduce you to my favorite sin.
Pride creeps forward, ever hidden from the conscious mind, ashamed of what it demands. Pride spits forth every evil intention, not the least of which it's very own nature. The Green Monster lurks within, devouring the "selves" of others, in order to feed the "self".
Ravenous.
From which all other sins are conceived, Pride gives birth to sin. Sin's origin fights for first place. And when Pride crosses the finish line, it accepts the medal, while the entire family of sin is waiting to celebrate it's victory.
"There's Lust, waiting with a smile!"
"Oh look!", Pride thinks to itself, "Greed is here too, pushing himself to the front of the crowd!"
"Murder's here as well! But where is Sexual Immorality? Oh yeah! Hiding behind that tree, as usual!"
"Victory is mine!"
Pride puts "ME" above "EVERYONE ELSE". Me first. You last. I win. You loose. I'm great. You suck.
Pride climbs the ladder of success, makes as much money as it can, in order to buy more than anyone else. Pride hordes what it produces and justifies it as "The American Dream".
Pride sends us across the globe, to "minister" to the poor, while we kick them out of our communities at home. Then pride calls us "Missionaries". Makes us feel better, doesn't it?
"Not in my backyard!", Pride screams out. "But downtown? That's fine. I'll drive down there Saturday night and help, before the sun goes down."
Pride hurts. Not just the others that it devours, but our own hearts as well. Because Pride reveals what we hate to see.
"You know, you think that ol' pride's gonna choke you going down, but I tell you what.. Ain't a night goes by I don't thank the boss up there for giving me a big enough throat.... Think about it Bud, pride's one of those seven deadlies, you know what I mean?" - Uncle Bob
Pride made Bud flip off Sissy from his Ford Pickup.
"Even those tears; I. Me. Mine. I Me Mine. I. Me. Mine." - George Harrison
Don't try and console me! I'll suffer alone!
"They cannot take your PRIDE." - Bono
Oh, how I wish they would.
God, we look around and see that pride is strangling our world, killing our families, destroying our society. Starve our ravenous pride so that we may hunger instead for truth love, unity, community, selflessness and our spirits. Starve us for humility. Amen
"Not in my backyard!", Pride screams out. "But downtown? That's fine. I'll drive down there Saturday night and help, before the sun goes down."
Pride hurts. Not just the others that it devours, but our own hearts as well. Because Pride reveals what we hate to see.
"You know, you think that ol' pride's gonna choke you going down, but I tell you what.. Ain't a night goes by I don't thank the boss up there for giving me a big enough throat.... Think about it Bud, pride's one of those seven deadlies, you know what I mean?" - Uncle Bob
Pride made Bud flip off Sissy from his Ford Pickup.
"Even those tears; I. Me. Mine. I Me Mine. I. Me. Mine." - George Harrison
Don't try and console me! I'll suffer alone!
"They cannot take your PRIDE." - Bono
Oh, how I wish they would.
God, we look around and see that pride is strangling our world, killing our families, destroying our society. Starve our ravenous pride so that we may hunger instead for truth love, unity, community, selflessness and our spirits. Starve us for humility. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment