Spoonful of Sugar: A Better Covenant

Teenagers are especially eager to prove they are better than others. Any accomplishment works in their self-absorbed little worlds. They preen like a peacock around anyone who will glance their way, boasting about things they find valuable—their best score on a popular video game, points scored in a basketball game, grades, popularity, or possessions.

Let’s not be too hard on adolescents. Adults do this, too. Achieving the top status of your profession, being published, attracting high praise for leading a Bible study, even keeping the nicest yard in the neighborhood feeds our Edenic desire to be better than others. Like Eve, who succumbed to the temptation to be like God, we are no different. Not at all.