Pride and Prejudice

My grandfather liked Pepsi. I preferred Coke.

When we visited my Dad's folks on summer vacation to Jupiter, Florida 'back in the day', what soft drink do you think we drank?

My grandfather liked Chevy's. My father preferred Fords.

When we jumped in the car with Dad, which model car do you think we tooled around in? When Grandpa took us kids on the morning drive down Florida Highway A1A, what model car do you think we jumped into at his invitation?

Grandpa was a Republican. My father was a...that's about as far as I can stretch this one...but you get the point, right?

We compare. Pepsi to Coke. Chevy to Ford. Republicans to Democrats. We have preferences and reasons why we have them. Listen to sports radio and you will get an earful from KU and MU fans as to who really deserved the invite to the Orange Bowl! They played that game in January and the talk is still not over!

In these areas...comparison is a matter of taste, thought or team colors. Discussion can be fun or frustrating, but for the most part, it is harmless...

Unless you compare yourself to others. That is where there is real danger. When you compare yourself to others you might get depressed. They may have more than you. They may know more than you. They may be more recognized than you. They may be better looking than you, have more money than you, drive a golf ball farther than you, and the list is as deep as your heart sinking into your shoes.

On the other hand, when you compare yourself to others, your might celebrate instead. You have more than they do. You know more than they do. You are more recognized than they are. You are better looking, more athletic, more conversational. You may even realize that you are spiritually superior as you compare yourself to others. In the Bible, that is called 'Pride', and you are in danger of being in league with the Devil himself if you excuse this root of all sin.

C.S. Lewis said this of pride;

"What you want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive--is competitive by its very nature. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having it more than the next man." He went on to conclude; "As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you."

Do you practice favoritism? Do you prefer others on the basis of what they have or know (because you believe that you identify with them) and do you look down on others with a justifying glare?

"If you really keep the royal law found in the Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right. But if you are showing favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers." James 2:8

God says it plainly. If you call yourself a Christian and elevate yourself above others that you consider 'lesser' than yourself (for any reason), you do not reflect the heart or the character of the God of the Bible and you are guilty of sin. Pretty cut and dry. Hard to escape that obvious of Scriptural instruction. Could it be that you have become prey to the spiritual cancer of pride...the kind that exacts judgment and even withholds mercy? That is the kind of pride that lives in prejudice and is easily identified by the secular and the spiritual...and certainly the just and impartial God of Scripture.

Christians have a PR problem at times. Those unskilled in the Word know that professing Christians are to live like the Christ who they are pledged to. When our treatment of others smacks against the 'Royal Law', the radius of our offense is broadened to include those pained by our favoritism and those angered by it. Living by faith requires the sincere expression of God-love lived out with integrity.

"You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone...as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." James 2:24, 26

What then is the expression of real 'faith'? That may mean that as a Christian with a Ford F 150 that you give your Wal Mart parking place to the Chevy Silverado that is competing with you for that piece of asphalt. It may mean that as a Christian who enjoys Coke that you show gratitude to the waitress at Chili's who tells you that they carry only Pepsi products. It may mean that as a Christian of one political party that you listen and show respect for those with a political world view that differs...greatly differs from your own. That kind of faith in action loves and serves others in the name of Christ, no matter the social standing, the economic status, or skin pigmentation of any person at any time in any context.

Jesus, the very Son of God, dispatched from heaven never looked down on anyone...and He could have...fully justified as fully human yet fully divine. "Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Becoming 'poor' rather than being 'proud'? For my sake? That is astonishing. That is convincing.

Those are your choices.