Proverbs 26, 27

Proverbs 26: 24-26: "People may cover their hatred with pleasant words, but they're deceiving you. They pretend to be kind, but don't believe them. Their hearts are full of many evils. While their hatred may be concealed by trickery, their wrongdoing will be exposed in public."

I've been having this strong sense of fakeness... or maybe it's my own insecurities, where I feel like everyone is just being nice to be nice and deep down inside they don't like me. But honestly, I think it stems from myself being nice to people and then wanting to say later that they get on my nerves. (whoah! big confession! don't judge me!) And now you're all wondering if it's you? ha. I honestly have no idea of a particular person/instance, it's just nonsense that comes to my brain and so of course this stands out to me because it convicts me and as Dr. Horton use to always say, stop the diarrhea of the mouth: Just nonsense talk that doesn't build anybody up. I've got to work on this.

Proverbs 27: 21: "Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised."

Wow! What a verse! Comparing simple praise to pure fire... something strong, powerful, and immediately changing. Praise is a wonderful thing, but it sure can be twisted into something that harms one's inner soul and convinces we actually are worthy of something. Every day I'm reminded more and more of how UNworthy I am of ANYthing, and how each day is completely lived through grace. We've got to keep pride out. Number one sin that seems to be the underlying issue of so many things.