(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.
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
There have been several articles recently by Denny Burk (links to other articles) about the whole self-promotion thing.
Mike, great stuff!
Oh goodness. Thanks for posting this. I always referred to this guy as, “The guy who asked a question to let everyone know how smart he was.” (even when he already knows the answer) He would also stay after class and talk to the professor. The professor usually had two responses: High tail it out of there or enjoy the “high altitude” small talk.
This is really good stuff Mike. I can certainly remember “That guy” in various classes I had. I think most of us can struggle with this at some point. This was a great reminder, and also gave me a good chuckle.
whew. I remember that guy. He always sat immediately to the left of the person on my right. Funny how that seating chart worked out that way every single time…
nothing like paying tuition to hear some fellow uninformed student waste 10 minutes of time you were paying to hear a professor teach ask about their new theological hobby-horse.
I just noticed that this article was the 1000th published post in SBC voices history.
woohoo!!! That’s because I’m so awesome!
You can mail my $1,000 Amazon Gift Certificate to….
Hold your breath and it will be there soon.
Demonic? I think that’s a bit harsh.
Unwise, immature, needy, insecure, ignored, overly enthusiastic about the chance to interact with a theological giant, self-centered, clueless….sure. There are tons of guys out there who are desperate for something to resolve one of those feelings, and just goes about it the wrong way; as you put it, in an unwise way.
Even so, your closing statement applies: 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.
Excellent point.
Jeremy,
Demonic may be a bit harsh…but I get that from James 3:15. This whole post comes out of James 3:13-18 comparing godly wisdom to the wisdom that does not come down from above.
Also notice that his “wisdom” is demonic…not necessarily him personally.
Excellent post.
The temptation to self-promotion is one of the endemic problems of blogging and all electronic media.
I agree I wrote an amazing article about this the other day….
http://tinyurl.com/yb8bujq
Oh, no you didn’t.
It’s been a long time since I was Rick rolled.
The pathology is one of control, the person who is suffering from a need to be in control, an inner insecurity for which compensation must be made, oneupsmanship.