How God's Love Changes Us: Part 2 - Overcoming Pride & Insecurity Sýnishorn

We all want to get well, until we know the cost. We like the idea of becoming new and whole, until we realize what it will take. We think that God should spare us from suffering because we have lived dedicated lives. Our entitlement inclines us to think that wholeness will (or should) come quickly, painlessly. But the journey through healing change couldn’t be more different.

As Jesus says in John 16:33, “In this world you will have tribulation” (emphasis added). Our work is to learn how to let the suffering arise and enrich our lives rather than resist it. We must not have a sense of entitlement when it comes to our own healing; instead, we must gather the courage to enter into difficult emotional territory. We cannot taste resurrection until we have drunk deeply from the cup of suffering. Healing cannot be inherited or caught from someone else; we must take the death- defying pilgrimage of restoration for ourselves.

This involves engaging our stories, telling ourselves the truth about our conditions, grieving our suffering, and choosing to break unhealthy patterns in our relationships. Jesus continually calls us to look at ourselves in the mirror and tell the truth about what we see. The journey toward humility is difficult. Yet the sooner we can admit to our inner entitled elder brother, the sooner we can let go of the sense of entitlement that keeps us isolated from relationship and the very heart of the Father.

What can you do to you allow yourself to be curious about your own propensity toward judgment? How can you open yourself to what God wants to reveal to you about your own internal elder brother? What are some practical ways you can combat your insecurity, entitlement, and judgment?

This is Day 1 of Overcoming Pride and Insecurity which is Part 2 of How God's Love Changes Us: three reading plans based on The Prodigal Son Parable. All three plans are based on Andrew Bauman's book Stumbling Toward Wholeness. Learn more about the book here.