The Way of the Leaf

The other day I talked about walking down the "Way of the Fruit". It was one of the examples that we pull from the Genesis account about Adam as the first man, setting a supremely poor stage for the rest of us to fall suit.  I never turned to alcohol or drugs as my form of escapism and makes a great transition into the next topic I wanted to talk about.

There is also the "Way of the Fig".  You see, Adam hid in shame of what he had done.  Rather than confronting the problem, owning the mistake, cultivating an opportunity to make things right...he hid behind fig leaves. There is another breed of man prevalent in mainstream culture (more so within the Christian culture) that criticizes and hides. Adam immediately passed the blame to his wife, when he should have stood in the gap for her.

I like Adam. We are very similar in our approaches to life and I look forward to meeting him someday. Since I never buried myself in rebellious and/or promiscuous   activities, it was easy for me to judge and even hate other men. Especially the Alpha males. Even to this day, I have a hard time being around the A Type personalities. Part of my ill disposition towards them is due the overwhelming sense of pride and self-worth they tend to project on others. The other part has to do with my own insecurities of not knowing how to define manhood.

The truth is that I have met several A Type men in my life that have proven my perception of that stereotype wrong. My eyes were blinded my own self-righteousness and I found still find myself doing the things that I judge them for. Often I would fast and made sure to let others know...needed them to pray for me right? Those other guys aren't fasting like me. Wow, what an a$#h@!3 I was! Spiritually immature and childish.

We don't approach Christ while judging others. There is a season and a time for rebuking pride, especially when it endangers or puts down others. But for every season of judgement, there are three seasons of mercy & grace.

Have you ever found yourself in the "Way of the Fig"? So caught up in your own self-righteousness that you judge others rather than moving forward in action? How did you handle it?