Paradigmatic shift
I am coming up on my 2100th blog post. I want these last few before that benchmark to be to God's glory.
Our pastor preached on pride last Sunday morning. It was thought-provoking and reflection-inducing. Without occasional sermons on pride, we lose track of how motivated by pride--or egoism, self-glorification, "merit-mongering," defensiveness--we are. Most of my conflicts stem from pride.
However, the opposite of pride is not false humility, a "I must be wrong" or "I'm worthless" mentality. That is the tough part. One can be assured and not prideful. One can have strong convictions and not be an egotist (or egoist, as the Victorian writers would say). It's a fine line we walk circumspectly and slowly.
One of the worst sins of this present age is the constant phrase, "I'm so busy," or "I'm too busy." It's so pointless. What's worse is hearing it from people in the next breath who say, "I just binge-watched the whole season of Stranger Things! Wow!"
As an old Doonesbury cartoon put it, "You're as busy as you want to be, not as busy as you have to be." The "I'm busy" phrase is straight from a heart of pride.
Our pastor preached on pride last Sunday morning. It was thought-provoking and reflection-inducing. Without occasional sermons on pride, we lose track of how motivated by pride--or egoism, self-glorification, "merit-mongering," defensiveness--we are. Most of my conflicts stem from pride.
However, the opposite of pride is not false humility, a "I must be wrong" or "I'm worthless" mentality. That is the tough part. One can be assured and not prideful. One can have strong convictions and not be an egotist (or egoist, as the Victorian writers would say). It's a fine line we walk circumspectly and slowly.
One of the worst sins of this present age is the constant phrase, "I'm so busy," or "I'm too busy." It's so pointless. What's worse is hearing it from people in the next breath who say, "I just binge-watched the whole season of Stranger Things! Wow!"
As an old Doonesbury cartoon put it, "You're as busy as you want to be, not as busy as you have to be." The "I'm busy" phrase is straight from a heart of pride.
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