ME, ME, ME, ME.

James 3: 13 – 18
13 Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.
16 Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

There are times when I read the Bible and it grates against my nerves, I sometime feel angry, other times embarrassed, and still other times resentful. I wonder, sometimes aloud, where is the comfort strength and hope I should be getting from the word.
Why does this happen?
The word of God will point to my weaknesses, and to my character defects, by putting my life up to a mirror so that I can see the way I live and act are not the way I should be.
We all have it in us, that ego driven way we see our lives.
We think that we're okay and living the way we should, believing that we have it all licked, and are examples of the way others should be. Then we get knee capped by the word, and we realize we are living in ways that are in direct opposition to the word.
I don't know about you, but I can get pretty sick of this whole “Iron sharpens Iron” stuff.
It hurts, and the sparks scare me.

17 Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced.
18 You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

It never stops!
I'm a good guy, and I'm sure that you are too.
So, why does the word point out our flaws?
Why doesn't it just tell us what we want to hear?
I have come to the conclusion that we are flawed beings, and that left to our own devices, we will fall prey to Satan and the lies he tells us daily. That whole free will thing is a trap that we set, and spring, ourselves. Living the way God wants us too is harder than the way we want to. But, it can be easy if we allow it to be and get our egos out of the way.
I choose to follow the precepts of God rather than the lies of my ego.
It is not always the easy thing to do, but sometime the right thing is a hard thing to do.