God must have read my blog yesterday....

God must have read my blog yesterday and knew I needed a lesson...
So I guess after yesterday's blog post, the Lord decided to use the sermon and small group time today to teach me a lesson. Isn't it funny how that happens? If you didn't catch yesterdays post I spoke of being offended by some certain people the last couple of days. I could go on and on about instances where I am just not used to the culture here. I will start with the fact that I know Southern culture is all kinds of messed up and is def. not the correct way, but neither is it in the midwest. They are all wrong and have their flaws. Moving on. The sermon today was about how we feel entitled to God's mercy and that we deserve it instead of it being what we desire knowing we are so undeserving. The scripture was Matthew 15:21-28 on the Canaanite woman who came to Jesus asking for healing for her daughter who was possessed. She knew she didn't deserve it, but had such faith. What could have been taken as offensive by being called a "dog" she accepted it knowing that is exactly what she was, but she believed that Christ was her only source of help and the only one who could really heal her daughter.
In our small group, we dealt with the questionf of "What offends us" and "What is the root cause of our being offended". I am offended by culture here and when it boils down to it, the root cause truly is my pride. People shouldn't talk of about me or my child. And, my self-righteousness. Do I put my righteousness in what others think of me and my family? So, I have the choice to live in offense or live in humility. What a blessing it could be to others around me to not have such an attitude of entitlement.
I am so thankful that the Lord is teaching me and showing me my sin. It's ugly. But, the more I see it the more I see how Great our God is and how big the cross in my life.