You hear it on the school playground, in the teens' locker room, at the coffee shop, around the water cooler at work... the seemingly harmless remarks that are intended to, ever so subtlety, raise ourselves us and put others down.
"My mom and dad are taking me to Disney World for spring break. Where are you going?"
"After school today my dad's taking me to pick up the car he bought me. Are you still driving your mom's van?"
"Did you see how that woman was dressed? Seems a little over the top for someone her age."
"What was he thinking? I would never be so crass as to say such a thing out loud - even if I thought it. No wonder he got passed over for that assignment."
And the snipes, the criticisms, the judgments only escalate from here. With little effort, we can make ourselves out to be better than nearly anyone else around us. We always have a way to 'one-up' others, as we seek to come out on top.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus teaches...
