I know a guy who can’t help but straighten every crooked
picture he sees. He has a brilliant mind, is good at winning arguments and uses
those skills to engage every wrong he perceives. He really bugs me sometimes. I
think what bugs me most about him is that he’s often right. The second thing
that bugs me is that he reminds me of myself. A part of myself that, well… annoys
me.
The first time I ever fully realized that being right might
be a vice was in a response I got on Facebook a while back. I had posted on my
personal page that not everyone believes what we believe and to expect
non-Christians to act like Christians was counterproductive. Someone responded, “Well,
that makes them wrong, doesn’t it?”
He was right, but something about the way in which he was
right felt very wrong. I couldn’t put
into words what it was that I was feeling, but I knew that the way he’d
responded wasn’t Christian, even though he is.
Since then, I’ve come to a deeper understanding of how my tendency
to want to fix everyone’s bad theology often negates their ability to accept
any love from me. It also invites them to pick me apart; find everything nasty
about me, and throw it in my face. It obliterates any chance at deep relationship.
-Chad West
0 comments:
Post a Comment