I Am So Much Better Than You...In My Head

Have you ever, with all humility and reverence, prayed to our all-knowing God that he would expose the sin you know you have hidden underneath, but you're just not seeing? And then, in His deep and profound wisdom, He slowly reveals to you the grime in your heart that was there all along.  And you, now seeing the depth of your depravity say...

"Awww crap! Seriously? But I like that! It's mine, and I don't want to give it up! Boooo!"

What can I say? I'm a spiritual paragon of virtue. *ahem*

In all actuality, I didn't really say that to God, but I think I felt it, and that's bad enough.

I did ask God recently to show me the sin that I was blind to, and He definitely came through. He showed me two blogs by Darlene Schacht of Time Warp Wife that were aimed right at me. The subject matter of both of these?

Humility. (The blogs can be found here and here)

Before my spiritual construction project was fully underway, my mouth was pretty out of control, in a lot of areas. I worked in an environment where curse words flew, and I was no better than anyone else. I might not have said something about you to your face, but if I was frustrated with you, someone was probably going to know about it.

This stuff is pretty hard to admit. I mean, this isn't exactly a pretty picture I'm painting here. It's true, though.

Since beginning this blog and trying to seek God's face and His will in my life, I've spent a lot of time praying about those things. I've made GIGANTIC strides in keeping my mouth shut and not saying unkind things...not that they don't sneak out every now and then, but Rome wasn't built in a day, right?

Anyway, I read those blogs and took them to heart, but the message didn't really "hit home" until Josiah and I went to Busch Gardens last weekend with his brother and my sister-in-law. Some guy was behind me on his phone...kind of loud and obnoxious, in my not-so-humble opinion...and I almost turned to Josiah to say something kind of funny/sarcastic about it, but then I stopped myself....

"That wouldn't be very nice to say," I thought...but I kept right on thinking about it. I kept right on thinking about how that guy was either brain damaged or drunk, until I realized what I was doing.

I might have brought my tongue under submission, but my brain was running rampant through Sin Land and I was loving every second of it.

No wonder the Apostle Paul said we are to "take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).

But why? I mean, they're just thoughts right? I mean, for crying out loud, can't a girl even have her thoughts?! (Obviously, this is where the mental kicking, screaming, and stomping came into play.)

No, a girl cannot have her thoughts because: 

"A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart,

and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil things stored up in his heart.

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."

(Luke 6:45, NIV)

If I'm serious about getting my mouth completely under control, then I have to bring my mind under submission.

Each and every person on this planet was made from God's image. He formed each one in his mother's womb. They are His beloved just as much as I. Whether they love Him or not, whether they acknowledge His mere existence, He loves them beyond words...enough to send a piece of Him, His Son, to die a brutal death so they might live...

enough to send His Son to die a brutal death so that I might live.

My sin, my hatred and sneering and evil thoughts, put Him on that cross just as much as anyone else's. I need to remember that.

So, the next time you think mean thoughts about someone...the next time you put someone down or judge them, even if just in your head, remember they were made in the image of God, too, and He loves them, the Bible says we should, too.

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, 

but do not have love, 

I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

If I have the gift of prophecy 

and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, 

and if I have a faith that can move mountains, 

but do not have love, I am nothing. 

If I give all I possess to the poor 

and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, 

but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. 

It does not envy, it does not boast, 

it is not proud. 

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 

It always protects, always trusts, 

always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. 

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; 

where there are tongues, they will be stilled; 

where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 

but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 

When I was a child, I talked like a child, 

I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. 

When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;

then we shall see face to face. 

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, 

even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. 

But the greatest of these is love."

(1 Corinthians 13:1-13, NIV, emphasis added)

Linking up today with Time Warp Wife