Getting one's self out of the picture...

In the entry "Why do we need anyone else to instruct us?" I wrote about the need to examine yourself, and look for biases and other influences when reading Scripture.

heh heh heh.

It's always fun to admonish others about something, and then find out you're doing the very same thing yourself.

When I’d written the original version and then put it "out" there, something didn’t seem right, so I “unposted” it and looked it over again.

And there - disguised as a series of rather craftily written of assertions - was the culprit. And the culprit’s name? Pride! “See how smart I am!”

Now, when something is written for publication in a professional publication, it’ll go by an editor who gives the material a critical review, suggests changes to make it better, and help keep the pride of the author from contaminating the piece.

With blogs, one has to edit their own posts, so you have to be completely and brutally honest with yourself about why you’ve included certain portions of text, why you’ve worded things the way you have, and ask the question “Does this really belong here?”

When all was said and done, a lot of the original post was edited out, the "how smart Tim is" material got plunked in the digital bit bucket, and what was left cleaned up so it was about how the Spirit works and not how smart Tim is.

I think this is an example about why we need others in our lives to share our thoughts and understandings about the Word of God with so it's about Him - rather than about about us, our pride, or what we want or think.