My own worst enemy

A few days ago someone told me that I am my own worst enemy. Not sure exactly what was meant by that in this particular case but it got me thinking...

Am I my own worst enemy?

Well, yeah I am. My ego, my insecurities, my own sense of entitlement they all conspire against me being more, being the change I want to see in the world. My anger, that only today flared up at a man who caused me to take an entire five seconds longer to cross an intersection. My own desires, my own greed, my own aspirations are all keeping me from being who I was made to be.

And if we go further, (without delving too far into the nature vs nurture thing), my hard default thinking that might makes right, the trust in redemptive violence, and oppression. It is at war with the creative intent of God, and the example and path of Jesus. Isn't this what Paul meant when he said in Romans Chapter 7:

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

In the end I think we are all our own worst enemies. Maybe our own harshest critics, as well. Luckily, there is a Father, that delights in us, even in our frailties, failures and falling.

rev