More on being a spiritual tourist and attempting to be an honest Christian intellectual:
I also try to remember that other people can be right and I can be wrong sometimes, but that concept's a bit difficult for me to swallow. It's hard enough for me to understand that both of us can be right; admitting that I am wrong is even harder.
Being humble enough to admit that I need help with prayer is another challenge. Dealing with pride is like trying to cut the head off a hydra or trying to keep weeds out of the garden - no matter how hard I fight it, my pride keeps coming back somewhere else.
Hmmm…. Is that one of the reasons that God keeps calling me to be faithful in prayer? Because my soul needs daily weeding?
(Reflection, Feb. 15, 2012)
Yup, Tina... we ALL need daily (hourly, "second-ly") weeding. Through prayer and immersion in His word, is how our Lord renews our mind ...as well as experiences and interactions that He puts in our path.
ReplyDeleteFor most (perhaps all) of us, pride is the most intractable sin as any kind of focusing on "self" (our opinions, our desires, etc.) is rooted in pride. We can even be "proud" that we acted so humbly in a situation. It's telling to look at how many verses in His word deal with pride v.s. humility.
Be sure, the more you keep focused on Him, *He'll" work on chipping away at that pride. We can't do it out of our will; but He can through His Spirit. (The ol' Romans 7 thing.)