Ouch, That Hurt!

This last week in Bible study, we discussed the sin of pride and how it affects so much of our daily life.  In one portion of the study, we were asked to rate on a scale of 1% to 100% how many of our everyday troubles have to do with the issue of pride. Wow! That was a hard thing to think about. I never really understood or realized how many of my problems have to do with pride, I mean I know I have sin problems, but ouch, that hurt! The two verses from the study that have really been sticking with me are from Isaiah and James:

Isaiah 57:15 "For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."

James 4:6 "But He giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. "

The days following our discussion have left me to really think about my attitudes towards others. Just the day after our discussion, (not even 24 hours later) I got into an argument with one of the new interns at work. It was really a petty thing, not even worth arguing over, but I found myself going to a different source after the fact to prove to myself that I was right. A couple hours later, I was thinking about my attitude and was amazed at how much trouble I went to, just to prove that he was wrong. All I could think was, "wow, how trivial can I get?" After the initial awakening, I have seen other times where I have had to prove myself. Let’s just say I feel like all I’ve been doing the last few days is confessing my sin of pride and asking for God to continue His work in this particular area in my life, but He is so good! He forgives even when I keep committing the same sin time and time again. What a merciful and patient God we serve!