KUWTK
For some of you who may not know what KUWTK stands for - it’s “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”. I’ll have to admit that i watched 1 or 2 episodes. Ok, ok maybe a whole season, but I haven’t watched it since Scott and Kourtney broke up. Did you hear that they maybe getting back together? Sorry, I digress. Whoever the producers were, they got the name from a term that many people have heard and use daily - “Keeping Up With The Jones”. I don’t who the Jones are, but the idea is that we need to keep up with the neighbors/people who seem to have it all, and we have to compete with them, of course.
I fall into this every year around this time when I see my neighbors who beautifully light up their homes with almost pristine, coordinated Christmas decorations. (This isn’t it). So what I do is think and surf the web to find lights and decorations that would beat the socks out of all my neighbors. The only thing that stops me is when I see the prices for these decorations. No thank you. James 4:6 says that “...God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble...” See, when we try to compare and compete with people around us, it usually 1. Makes us feel superior on those who we deem are below us or 2. We feel inferior on those who we deem are above us.
Our insecurities make us think and do things that are toxic to our lives, always trying to catch up with other people. What they have or who they’re with. It’s a never ending cycle that will always leave us empty because no matter how hard we try we will never be on top. Our pride has to be in check not from ourselves but from something or someone that overcame pride and so much more. The only one that I can think of is Jesus. He overcame His pride by becoming human to be born into a poor carpenter’s family, to be vulnerable to everything in this broken world, and ultimately die a horrible death for our sins. He overcame death, sin, and Satan. He is the only thing that will dissolve our pride.
I need more grace everyday because I see myself a selfish, sometimes bitter, and ignorant man. I need His grace to help me be cured of this toxic poison of pride in me. I need His grace to be at peace with myself and the things that I DO have. And, I need His grace to understand that this Christmas season isn’t about competing with others to see what “new shiny stuff” we get this year but to feel complete in my Lord and Savior who loves me unconditionally, warts and all. I want to say and feel during this Christmas season that “I am complete in Jesus!”, and I don’t need to compete or keep with anyone else. And, it would be nice to see Scott and Kourtney get back together again...