The Stealers: Pride, Stubbornness, and Anger

I’ve known many young students from my years teaching at a local Christian college. Now those students are grown with families of their own. It’s amazing to see the traits, talents, and gifts of their parents in their young children. What’s that old saying? The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

This observation made me think about how God watches us grow up. What are His reactions to our actions?

We all start as young Christians, no matter what age we get saved. We stride ahead, stumble then get up and walk again. We hold back and miss opportunities. We have growth spurts when we rely on God for everything and then stunt our growth by relying on ourselves. Is there never a time when life just goes on without those times?

I can say in my senior years an emphatic NO! Every single day and moment I make decisions that affect my walk and growth in Christ. Pride becomes something that stops the life-giving knowledge of Christ from springing up in me. Selfishness becomes like a weed killer to the good that God really wants for me. Then there is anger. I never want to admit when I am angry; I tend to think it’s the other person’s fault. These feelings don’t lead to forgiveness and cause pain.

The blinders of pride, selfishness, and anger are satan’s tools to separate us from our Savior. (Sorry, I do not give satan the honor of being capitalized!) Oh, how the prince of darkness laughs when he’s raised pride in believers’ minds. The saved one now believes they have all they need in life to be happy, but their pride really keeps them separated from the One that loves them most.

Then selfishness becomes a continued issue of me-ism. I’ve accomplished this and I’ve done that and I’ve made it this far. Or maybe it’s the selfishness of sharing your gifts, abilities, and talents for God’s glory. Don’t tell me you haven’t been there at least once!

Anger is hateful, hurtful, and explosive. Words said in anger can never be taken back. You don’t own them anymore, the recipient does. Those words are weapons shot into the heart of the one you want to hurt and they only cause pain.

So, what’s the answer to my question of what God thinks of our growing years? I think He is true to His Words, “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love” Jeremiah 31:3. He loves us anyway, no matter how we treat Him or how we act. He knows we are His, just like those parents know the little ones they are raising are theirs. They are responsible for them until they are old enough to make their own decisions, then they are accountable to God alone.

These are hard things to hear about ourselves and our kids but we need to remember that God loves us and them, anyway. I am positive about that!