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

Demanding what we believe we are due pushes us toward a prideful stance that thwarts our ability to love.  Our harsh judgment of others must be engaged within ourselves in order for healing to progress. Let’s look at Luke 15:29-30, where the elder brother interacts with his father:

“Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” 

Do you sense the accusations toward the loving father? The aggressive judgments toward the younger brother? Do you hear what is beneath the elder brother’s words? The manipulation, the anger, the righteous indignation, all sprinkled with bits of fact? There was plenty of truth to justify the elder brother’s resentment and judgment.

He was the son who endured and stayed behind and worked tirelessly. He put his own blood, sweat, and tears into his father’s estate. He wanted justice, and the father’s grace seemed to offer none. The elder brother wanted to see what was clearly so wrong put right. We, too, are inclined to put forth evidence to validate our righteousness and convince ourselves that we deserve more from our heavenly Father. The elder brother inside us screams for justice, so we strive for perfection and then feel entitled to receive what we feel we deserve.

When others are not working as hard as we think we are, we become hard and justify our resentment. The posture of entitlement that leads to judgment is fueled by insecurity. To hide our insecure places, we project out contempt (other-centered contempt) in order to feel better about our own deficiencies. If we are living from the insecure elder brother within ourselves and a conflict arises, we will let fear instead of love rule us.

What can you do to you allow yourself to be curious about your own propensity toward judgment? Identify some ways you harbor insecurity. How does your insecurity influence the way you judge others?