Who needs the Gospel: Me??

This morning I was caught up in a spiritual battle; you know, one I usually lose. Some of the women in our office had just been to a retreat in Portugal and they were giving a report on the wonderful things God had done. He had revealed himself in new and exciting ways to women there from all over the world. I should have been overjoyed, basking in the glory of what God had done. Instead, my head was bowed and I found myself resentful. "Why are they able to do this and not me?" I thought. As I reflect on it now someone else comes to mind who had nearly those exact thoughts. I think his name was Judas Iscariot.

You know, some people have spiritual struggles at high tech levels, but not me. I can't even get past one of those simple commandments, "Don't covet." Just two words in the "Jeff's Paraphrase" are all it takes to put me back in my place, clinging by my fingernails to the cross. My flesh is crucified, I know, but it seems to be rotting somewhere beneath the blood. Who needs the gospel?? Have mercy on ME, a sinner!