Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Relative Size
Justin Taylor links to Tullian Tchividjian on the trials and tribulations he has suffered in recent times. Taylor carries the quotes, my favorite of which is Chesterton, typically pithy:
They are all around us. People insult us out of their own insecurity - it really isn't an insult at all, it's just various unusual psychological processes at work. Let em give you an example. Most people that blog and read blogs are pretty smart people, certainly smarter than average. And I bet all of us know someone that avoids us because our smarts make them insecure. We may work very hard to be engaging and non-condemning, but they are so weak egoed that simply saying something that shows knowledge they do not have makes them uncomfortable. Such people will often ignore you, some will even strike out at you as if your intelligence was somehow an assault on their person.
Heck, listen to talk radio, you'll hear it all the time. The people that call in and start hurling insults at the host - usually it is because the host has made a point they cannot refute. On radio, that's not a big deal - but in families or churches it can be huge. It's happened to me on more than one occasion and it just rankles me because the typical response is to stop the conversation altogether, and I never get the opportunity to "set the record straight" with regards to the insult hurled my way. Worse, it appears to me that to allow the conversation to end with the insult is to allow the insult credibility.
But note the magic words in that last sentence - "I" -- "appears to me."
Christ was the victim of the ultimate unjust insult - one that resulted in His death.
We are supposed to follow in His footsteps.
How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it.How many ways do we make ourselves bigger in our own lives. We all do it, and we all have very deceptive ways of doing it. My pet peeve is unjust insults.
They are all around us. People insult us out of their own insecurity - it really isn't an insult at all, it's just various unusual psychological processes at work. Let em give you an example. Most people that blog and read blogs are pretty smart people, certainly smarter than average. And I bet all of us know someone that avoids us because our smarts make them insecure. We may work very hard to be engaging and non-condemning, but they are so weak egoed that simply saying something that shows knowledge they do not have makes them uncomfortable. Such people will often ignore you, some will even strike out at you as if your intelligence was somehow an assault on their person.
Heck, listen to talk radio, you'll hear it all the time. The people that call in and start hurling insults at the host - usually it is because the host has made a point they cannot refute. On radio, that's not a big deal - but in families or churches it can be huge. It's happened to me on more than one occasion and it just rankles me because the typical response is to stop the conversation altogether, and I never get the opportunity to "set the record straight" with regards to the insult hurled my way. Worse, it appears to me that to allow the conversation to end with the insult is to allow the insult credibility.
But note the magic words in that last sentence - "I" -- "appears to me."
Christ was the victim of the ultimate unjust insult - one that resulted in His death.
We are supposed to follow in His footsteps.
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