Deceptive Virtues

Our society seems to value assertiveness, independence, and defiance to authority. We admire, for example, people who can "get around the rules." But in a relationship with God, these same characteristics become stubbornness, self importance, and refusal to listen or change. They are manifested in an inability and unwillingness to surrender and submit to God's ways or His plan for our lives. Worse yet, stubbornness, when left unchecked, becomes a way of life that is hostile to God!