Excuse Me, I Need to Let You Know How Awesome I Am

(HT: 22 Words)

If you have spent any time in college or grad school you know “that guy” from class.  If you don’t know that guy from class there may be a good chance that you are him.

I’m pretty sure that this dude is probably a blogger too.  At least he likes to leave comments on those blogs that still draw a good amount of comments.  Homeboy likes to hear himself speak (and he likes to read what he types).

“Who has wisdom and understanding among you?”

This guy, of course.

And he will not stop until everybody knows that he is the one with wisdom and understanding.  If somebody else in class or in the comment thread makes a good point, “that guy” will have to one-up.  Or at least he’ll find the one minor thing that could potentially have a minor problem in its application 50 years from now.  After all, it must be shown that everyone else is a twit.

What happens when a merry band of “that guys” get together?  You have yourself a blog community.  Each driven by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.  This community will eventually be marked by disorder and given enough time will morph into every vile practice.

Not so the wisdom that is from above.  Godly wisdom is meek.  Godly wisdom is more passionate about seeing Jesus’ name in lights than your own.  Godly wisdom wants to lift up brothers and sisters.  It fights for peace rather than the need to be right.  And because of this godly wisdom can be reasoned with.  You see godly wisdom every time a person admits his/her faults.  Godly wisdom is heard saying, “you know I could be wrong about this”, but at the same time is very gentle and firm on the truth.

“That guy” isn’t funny.  He’s not cute.  He’s dangerous.  His “wisdom” is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.  And that truth hits me hard, because I have to constantly fight a tendency to be “that guy”.  “That guy” makes me sick, because I see the ugliness of my own self-infatuated heart therein.

Thankfully Jesus came to rescue and redeem my self-infatuated heart and woo it with His much greater beauty.  Through his grace he conquers us with His brilliance and shames our sad displays of “wisdom and understanding”.  Christ is calling the “that-guys” of the world to put down their hands, stop trying to show off, and find their sufficiency in His awesomeness.