One or two of you might recall that I have written a few times about the silver thread of sin that ties all sins together. I have maintained that it was PRIDE. And sure enough, there is plenty to cope with in dealing with my own pride.
But, once again, I was wrong.
I was reading a Tim Keller book just last night, Every Good Endeavor. It is a book about work. Last night Keller was dealing with the idolatry of work and pointed out that the FIRST commandment of the famous 10 was this:
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Ex 20:3.
Keller claims, rightly I believe, that it is IDOLATRY from whence all sin originates. Pride is merely a manifestation of idolatry. In the case of pride, I am the idol that I worship.
Sadly true! I am super competitive. Why? I compete to show that I am better. Better than whom? It doesn't matter. I need to feed my own ego to keep worshiping myself. I must earn my own worship, even though I really don't deserve any of it.
Citius - Altius - Fortius. Faster - Higher - Stronger. It's my motto and a sad one at that.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Ex 20:3. I guess that includes self. No, I am sure that includes self.
Ex 3:5-6 says, 5 "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
We have the ONE thing in the world worthy of all worship in the Holy Trinity. Wouldn't it be better, more fulfilling, to worship G^d instead of myself.
Sounds good right now. How long will I remember this? Not long enough.
But, once again, I was wrong.
I was reading a Tim Keller book just last night, Every Good Endeavor. It is a book about work. Last night Keller was dealing with the idolatry of work and pointed out that the FIRST commandment of the famous 10 was this:
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Ex 20:3.
Keller claims, rightly I believe, that it is IDOLATRY from whence all sin originates. Pride is merely a manifestation of idolatry. In the case of pride, I am the idol that I worship.
Sadly true! I am super competitive. Why? I compete to show that I am better. Better than whom? It doesn't matter. I need to feed my own ego to keep worshiping myself. I must earn my own worship, even though I really don't deserve any of it.
Citius - Altius - Fortius. Faster - Higher - Stronger. It's my motto and a sad one at that.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Ex 20:3. I guess that includes self. No, I am sure that includes self.
Ex 3:5-6 says, 5 "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
We have the ONE thing in the world worthy of all worship in the Holy Trinity. Wouldn't it be better, more fulfilling, to worship G^d instead of myself.
Sounds good right now. How long will I remember this? Not long enough.
Perhaps pride is the thing that always keeps us from turning AWAY from our sin. Turning from God, doing things "our way" always winds up worshipping something other than the God we have turned away from.
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