Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’

(Proverbs 16:18 KJV)  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

We used to have a phrase when I was a kid.  I can’t remember if it was a family saying or from my circle of friends.  We said someone was “cruisin’ for a bruisin’.”  That might be offered as a footnote on this verse if I ever publish the Pumice Paraphrase.  There is something about our attitude that lays the tracks for the railroad of our life.

“Pride” (1347b) is linked to “destruction” (7667).  The root meaning of pride is “rise up.”  You might call it uppity.  It involves looking down on others more than thinking well of yourself.  If you are great on the violin, it is not pride to admit you play.  It is pride to tell others they are hopeless in an effort to make yourself look good.

You say you don’t do that?  Would the people around you agree with that?  Can you voice opinions based on the facts, not on verbal attacks.  Can your arguments ever be boiled down to “because you are stupid, that’s why.”  I am going to need to go back over my transcripts.

So?  Opinions and positions should be based on “because God said so.”  One way of doing that is reading the word so you know what God said.  Another is to read other sources of information and look at the facts, not the opinions.  It can be done, it just isn’t.  Make today different.