Check your pride at the door

It's been a normal day- went to the office, realized how much trouble it is to work with some customers, got over it- the usual. It's funny that just a line from a song can slap you in the face with how sinfully you're reacting to something. And then it happens again not too much later. And again. God rounds off the rough edges, but it takes a lot of abrasion, a lot of hard work, and a lot of pieces of your pride that you have to leave behind in a pile on the floor. God is the ultimate craftsman, working in the medium of human hearts.

The character of a person is known by the way they react to adversity. As Liz Eliot said in her book Mark of a Man, character is forged in the furnace of self-control and self-denial. There are those who try to hem their children about, keeping them from every single thing in which they could do themselves harm. I understand why they would do this, but it's a defective strategy.

Temptation, of whatever flavor, is well represented by the metaphor of fire. Of itself, it destroys everything before it, but under the control of a skilled blacksmith, it is absolutely essential in tempering and strengthening metal. Unless one's character has been tempered, it remains brittle and isn't going to last the battle. While temptation is to be denied battle when possible, it is essential to the development of strong character.

As a man thinks within himself, so he is.

If God changed your mind,... how would you know?