Confession

Today I was over at Elsie's place reading her latest A to Z post.  She is doing hers on the subject of addiction- a subject she knows well from both sides of the coin.  I will leave that at that;  you wanna know more, hit the link above and back-issue your way through a very personal and painful story that she has both the need and the courage to share.

As for here, I am going to work from the comment I left on her H post.  Like I said, you can read the story that brought it out, if you choose.  At this point, it becomes MY story.

The comment:

Ego. Arrogance. Need for control. They all are about the same thing- pride. And it's never pride in anything you can take pride in- just pride in things that are decreasing you day by day. Pride that tells you you deserve the destruction you choose. May God forgive me, and thank you for the perfect venue to confess.



Confess, says you?  You bet. Pride is the monster, for me, as well as many of you, I'm sure.  For me, it doesn't OFTEN have to do with the first couple of manifestations I mentioned in the comment.  "Need for control" is a lot less than it used to be, and I work on it every day.  MY manifestation?  Mine is the part about "Pride that tells you you deserve the destruction you choose."

I can do this.  I should do this.  Because I DESERVE the results!

Boy, do I ever.

It's an easy connection.  I "deserve" something I don't have.  I become disobedient to get it.  Which is sin, and sin is ALL rooted in pride.

Let me say that again.  Sin is ALL rooted in pride.

Let's look into this, based just at random by a blog post I just found called "8 Sins Christians are Starting to Ignore" by Rachel-Claire Cockrell.  The first she lists is "Selfishness/Self-Righteousness".  This is one I get accused of anytime someone with a soulful of hate trying to pass as loving has had it with me.  I ignore it then; but not so much when I accuse myself.  I have a tendency to be like my father- I love stories that end with, "G** D****t, Chris, you're right."  Definitely an unproductive pride there.

Second is Patriotism.

Wait, let her explain...

We shout, “‘Merica!” and talk about how much better we are than everyone else, but that’s not biblical. We project Christianity on to the American flag and assume that God acts American, but that’s not how it works. Celebrate American values and understand how blessed you are to live here, but remember that at the end of the day you are a citizen of heaven, and heaven will be full of people from all over the world. 

'Sfunny, but I just read yesterday an article by some liberal agnostic basically saying the same thing in a narrow minded sort of way.  His contention was that most "christians" in his opinion are only Republican because of the abortion issue, and that "any Christian that supports Republicans is therefore a hypocrite" because it means you support Trump, race hate, bigotry, and more than likely leprosy, all to get this one thing.  While I could disprove this guy without breaking a sweat FOR ME, there are a lot of people who are just like he describes.  Pride allows us to wrap a lot of garbage around the flag if we don't pay attention.


Third, she names "Fear/Worry".  Because the Lord tells us do not worry, that He has everything that needs controlled under control.  Fear is just a manifestation of being upset that something has slipped OUR control- and that IS pride, too.

Fourth is, not surprisingly, pride.

Fifth- "Gluttony/Coveting".  Why can't I have it, I DESERVE it!"  Sound familiar?

Sixth, "Gossip".  Because why tell a story that casts a bad light on someone else?  Why did my father like those stories?  Because it ended with him looking like the conquering hero.  Pride again.

Seventh, "Hatred".  Just follow any FB comment string between Catholics and Protestants.  Or liberals and conservatives.  And am I any different?  I've certainly had my share.  Why hate?  Because it lifts me above the other guy.

Finally, "Judgment".  As she puts it:

This one is the kicker. This is what will be the death of our faith and our influence. I know that Paul tells the churches to expel sinners from their midst. He encourages us not to indulge someone in sinful behavior. We use those verses to justify judgment of others and I believe this is a gross misinterpretation of scripture. 

Or, to put the way one of those Catholics did in a post he shared...

Lot of wisdom there.  When you hate something because it is against GOD, then it is righteous hate.  When you hate something because it disagrees with YOUR CONCEPT of God, well, pride again.


So yeah, Pride is the basis of all sin.  It's the basis of my sin.  And even if I 'feel like I'm dirt", the sin I commit to get me there is still pride.  And this is my confession.