Yessir! It's the 16th and March Madness is in full swing. Sixty-four college teams are fighting through the yearly NCAA basketball tournament to determine who is the best in the land. In my universe most folks are pulling for Carolina or Duke. Some for NC State or Virginia. I actually heard the other day that some folks want Kentucky to win it. Go figure. Can any good thing come out of the blue grass state. Well, I know some folks that are good and hail from there, but you get what I mean if you grew up on Tobacco Road like I did.
One editorial writer in the Charlotte Observer was decrying the mis-usage of the non-word 'bracketology'. It has been coined by basketball aficionados as a term describing the science of determining who should play whom, when, and in what 'bracket' of the tournament. And I quote him, "Bracketology" is not a word, so stop saying it. When you hear someone else say it, tell them to knock it off. Other than that, please revel in March Madness."
How's that for one writer's pet peeve. I disagree. That's word discrimination. Every word at some point or another was not a word until someone said it, and others liked it. And kept saying it. Why discriminate against a brand new word, and one that has such a marvelous ring to it! I like it. Bracketology! There. I said it. What are you doing to do about it, call the NAACP? That would be the National Association Against Coining Phrases, not the other one. Those fine folks understand discrimination well and would side with me.
Most people have pet peeves. One of mine must be 'people who have pet peeves that I don't agree with'. I have others, but that's another blog for another day.
My train of thought brought me to this: What are God's pet peeves? If He has some, and I have read that He does, should we adopt them too? Yes. We should. What are they?
I'm not going to get in to all of them but one for sure is un-forgiveness. God apparently does not forgive un-forgiveness (see Mark 11:26). We should take note. Having un-forgiveness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. It works well, only we die, not them.
The writer of the proverbs reveals some more:
"These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to Him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren."
Ouch. We should pay attention to the things that the Lord hates, and refuse to participate in them as much as possible. Amazing thing about the Lord Jesus. Both love and hatred drove Him to the cross; love for us, hatred of these things. He died and rose again to deliver us from them all. When you see Him as He is, you've got to love Him. He's Wonderful.
