Self versus Self

Reading the London papers is an exercise that can be excruciatingly painful if one is looking for the truth.  Dual standards for public figures abound, misrepresentation of facts and figures is a norm found across every spectrum of society, and violent crime of all forms is rising in many parts of previously quiet London.  The lead protagonists in many of the stories explain their failures through excuses that all deliver the same message; I am not at fault, it was…  You can fill in the blank with any and every answer possible.  The only think in common with the answers is the every one points to a cause/source that rests in a direction away from the speaker.
 
I have found myself becoming increasingly cynical and frustrated.  It was if the underlying story lines never changed.  As my frustration grew I found myself looking in the mirror.  If I am honest and confess I realized that I too was hiding behind lengthy list of defenses.  On careful examination there was no question that my carefully constructed fa?ade was nothing more than a series of pictures that at best were weak, self centered, and inadequate.  I am not sure whom, if anyone, I thought I was fooling.  My logic attempted to hide the fact that I am as driven by “self” as anyone I might critique.  It does end there; the confidence I call on for dealing with people is often a mask for arrogance.  If that isn’t enough; I think you get the picture.
 
I am not alone.  People for generations have hidden behind rhetoric.  When the Jews used historical writings as a mask for their arrogance, weakness, and price, Jesus called them out.  “I'm only quoting your inspired Scriptures, where God said, ‘I tell you—you are gods.’”  (John 10.34)
 
We are invited to walk with God.  The invitation is here, now.  If I could realize that my “self” is the only thing holding me back, I would be ready to discover a all-knowing God holding the door wide open for you and me.