Lately, I have been trying to figure out this thing called "adulthood." Around here, we joke that it's a bad word because we're all confused at one time or another.
That said, I tend to view adulthood as being "on top of things" and, more often than not, that turns out to be arrogance.
Arrogance is an ugly word. It is self-centered and self-gratifying. It is the foolishness the Proverbs speaks of so often. Sometimes, it is even having too much confidence in oneself.
This morning, as I was reading through Proverbs chapter 30, verse 32 caught my eye:
"If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou has thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth."
I sat there, pondering over the words of that verse. What great insight they held in them! I knew the Lord was teaching me something. If I have done foolishly, it said, in lifting myself up... had I been lifting myself and therefore, become a fool?
I heartily felt the effects of it. Yes, I had been foolish. I had been lifting myself up when I knew the Lord's will was instead to prefer others. But Satan was hard at work with my flesh. How can I prefer them when they did such-and-such to me?
The words of so many verses came to mind; the Lord was working hard on my spirit.
"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."
"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty [adulthood]; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."
"With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love."
"And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another."
