Arrogance

Jer. 46:1 – 52:34

Young people, including myself, when I was younger, tend to be proud of themselves ad their abilities, even though this pride is a sin. (Pro. 16:18,19) In addition to this being a sin, the wrong kind of pride, it does, as the scriptures point out lead to haughtiness (also sin) and this leads to rejection and disunity in the Body of Christ.

Now, anyone that knows me at all knows that I´m proud of my time in service to my country. I´m not proud because I did something, particularly, special, I put my life on the line in defense of my country, my mother, sisters and my, then retired from the service, dad. And anyone that knows me as I have aged knows that I have taken to wearing a Fedora in place of my former XX Beaver Stetson and on each of my hats are four metal pin replicas of my most important medals and a miniature replica of my Wings.


These can easily be construed as Arrogant Pride and in some I´m sure it is, but in my case they mark the Best Thing I did for another without a reward. When I went to Vietnam in 1966 I was a Lifer (Career Soldier) and was already a leader of men. Now my profession would at times call for me to lead men into death, that happens to soldiers and at that time my dress uniform exhibited my Crew Member Wings, my Rifle and Machine Gun Qualification pins. It was my sincere feeling that before I gained any more rank that I needed the experience of following in combat before I had the responsibility of more than seven men´s lives

At that time Ho Chi Minh had aligned himself with the USSR and I believed then, just as I do now in Freedom! I volunteered for Vietnam duty because even the Little People deserve freedom and if I had remained in the service, I did not need to gain Combat Experience by making bad decisions and getting men killed because of my lack of experience.

Now, about this sin, pride. I am not ashamed of my eight years of service, nor should I be, but the youngsters today, 14 to 45, believe they have the World by the tail and are too often heard correcting their Elders. I will not lie to you and tell you that I am not guilty of opening my mouth and speaking the wrong words because I do my best not lie. And as the Elders of this world, 45 to ??, it is our duty, as spelled out in the scriptures to teach the young people how to conduct themselves.

I have already explained that I have been known to miss this mark and this does not come from self righteousness, but when I, or you, correct an elder or one of our contemporaries, we need to follow the lead of the good pastors of this life. When my pastor hears an error happening he does not jump down anybodies throat. Instead he asks them what they had said and why they believe that. From there he begins to, softly, teach and offends none but possibly those not led bu the Holy Spirit of God.

All of us, regardless of age, need to become People Watchers and Bible Readers on a daily basis.

My prayer is that you, and I, grow in Christ and for our LORD to pour out His blessing that none of us can contain and hold back.