Contrition

I've learned that when you pray for humility God is quick to answer.

Today was no exception.

Being divinely reminded that you have a tendency to think higher of yourself than you ought (see Romans 12:3) is a good thing. It doesn't always feel like a good thing, but it is. Here's why...it gives you (or in this case me) an opportunity to stop and take a good long look at your own behavior - consider your motivation for it, your tendency to rationalize it, and then own up to anything that you know to be an offense to God. Or to use the less popular terminology - own up to the sin.

If I don't call the spade a spade, I don't get to the next step which is what the Bible calls a godly sorrow. The sorrow is what leads to repentance. The repentance brings me back to the Good News I knew in the first place. Jesus redeemed me. He paid the penalty for my offense.

That doesn't just wipe my slate clean, that motivates me to lay down my pride and extend the grace I have received to others. It causes me to be contrite.

And that's the kind of sacrifice the God who came to serve desires.