The Cooling Stream

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. (Proverbs 8:13)

• Wisdom calls to us to gain an understanding heart and to find life and obtain favor from the Lord. The alternative is to go through life with a superior attitude while dying inside in the process.


• Pride is a sword that cuts in two directions. It wounds the person who uses it along with those against whom it is used. Pride kills relationships.


• Arrogance is an absorbing sense of one's own greatness. It is a feeling of one's superiority over others. Arrogance causes unnecessary violence to self, to others, and to creation. Arrogance robs us of all God longs to give us. Arrogance causes others to feel inferior, to suffer, to withhold reaction, or to retaliate. Arrogance only brings trouble.


• The good way will respect the free will of others, the evil way will not. The lust for power and dominance is one of the principal causes of the brokenness of our world.


• The perverse mouth has a wicked heart. He sows discord and evil among men, and causes much damage to peace and happiness.


• Only by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. Pride brings shame. Humility brings wisdom. It is only through humility and love can we hope to live a life that reflects the beauty and goodness of truth. God is truth, and He wants us to live in truth. And the Truth will set us free, save us, and lead us to God's eternal kingdom.