Pride has always been a struggle for me. Most likely because I'm relatively quiet and reserved, people often view me as this humble, sweet, put together person. But really I'm just prideful. That's it. And I have good reason to be...I follow all the rules, I think before I speak, I'm disciplined, and above all I understand that bikinis are immodest and thus should not be worn by Christians. Fact.
I mean really, how much more straightforward do you want God to be? I had always despised people putting words in God's mouth and yet here I was doing that very thing. Conveniently, Scripture has a passage for the in Matthew:
These verses hit home for me because of my self-righteous tendencies. It's so much easier to look at the obvious mistakes others are making (or appear to be making) and avoid introspectively examining our own hearts or dealing with our own pain. By focusing on condemning others because of their choice of swim attire, I was completely avoiding addressing the hurt that I was experiencing with regards to this topic.
It also allows us to avoid our fears. What was I afraid of? That I wasn't a good enough Christian. I reckoned that these girls who were bikini clad had to be worse Christians than I was, thus making me a step higher on the Christian hierarchy. All I have to say is, good thing there's not one of those!
Praise God that He is gracious and that even in the midst of my sin He loves me and still bestows upon me His mercy and freedom!
In what areas are you prideful or self-righteous?
In clinging so tightly to your pride, what are you hiding or avoiding?
What are you afraid of?
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