Contentions

“Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.” (Prov. 13:10)

I find great truth in that old adage that when we point a finger at another, three more are pointing back at us. I cannot recall how many times I noticed that those who contended with me, and especially when they accused me, were in fact, guilty of that which they condemned me for! We are so fickle. I have had people tell me that I think I am right and no one else is, but the fact is, they think they are right too, or there would be no disagreement! In the factory where I worked for thirty years, many men told me that “religion doesn’t belong here” when I would “preach” to them, but they seemed to think that drinking and foul language did belong there! Everyone had there own agenda, and when we accuse others of any wrong doing, it is a result of pride in us. “Only by pride…” and no other reason is given for contentions. This pride puffs us up so that we wish to become the dominant one in conversation and in testimony, although we ought to desire it to be that way, and sometimes it is cloaked with the guise of “truth”. Our pride declares that we are better than others, although our mouths say differently in a mock humility. Often we wish to exercise the privilege of condemning another, and yet secretly wish we had the nerve to do what they did! Our self righteousness is pride; our self confidence is pride; anything aimed at self is pride, and we are chock full of it. We are prideful in appearance (under the guise of “testimony” to justify it); we are proud of our homes, our lawns, our automobiles, etc. and we tend to look down, to some degree, at those who are not like us. We work out to keep our bodies in shape, (for the testimony of the Lord, of course) so that we will “look good”, and that is an ostentatious display of pride. If we will be honest, we care about our public appearance way too much to the extent that we prim and pamper ourselves before we even step out the door! Oh that we would see ourselves as the wretches we really are. Most of the time our accusations against others come right back home to us; we gossip about so and so being a gossip; we criticize so and so for something when we would do the same thing or worse under their circumstances. (See Mt. 7:1-5 and Rom. 2: 1-3) We even criticize those that are critical!