In this week's study of Amos (Chapters 4 & 5) we see God refer to "cows of Bashan-you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, 'Bring us some drinks!'" Yikes. How would you like the Lord to refer to you as a cow?! (Sorry guys, this post is for women only this week!)
Apparently these women were used to a cushy lifestyle and put their husbands in a position to take advantage of others in order to maintain it.
We would probably all say, "I would never do that!" However, do we act like cows sometimes without thinking about it? Here are some possible ways we act in an elitist, demanding manner.
- Put our spouse under unreasonable pressure to make a certain amount of money to maintain our lifestyle, home and habits, even if perhaps he hates the job he has to do in order to provide it.
- Think highly of ourselves because we are able to wear a certain brand of clothing or drive a certain car, or live in a particular subdivision.
- Whine when little things don't go our way, when really, they are pretty minor inconveniences considering the suffering that many others have to endure.
- Make sure our budget contains significant amounts of money for eating out, clothing, pampering and vacations and yet only designate a small porportion for giving to our local church and other worthy causes.
- Making snide remarks about others while "blessing their heart" in public.
- Judging someone's heart when we haven't gotten to know them.
God had little patience for this type of behavior. It's so easy for these habits to creep into our lives and though we may not display direct outward snobbery, we can do so in subtle ways. Let's ask God to show us areas in which we do not honor Him and others with our "cow-like" attitude. Instead, let's be another type of COW: Considerate, Open-handed Women.
Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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