January 11, 2010
Boast
Occasionally we encounter a person who boasts endlessly about their grandchildren. You can’t get past a generic greeting before they are telling you about the superior family genetics and breaking out the photos. As if they are the only ones with grandchildren, the one-sided conversation never seems to come around to you or your family. I don’t think the Lord faults me for saying that I’m really tired of hearing their embellishment. I have a self-absorbed friend with a similar problem, the only difference is that she gloats over her ministry. It’s all about her ministry and what they are accomplishing for the Lord…as though other ministries are just somehow not as noteworthy. I have to wonder if the Lord finds fault with me for being really tired of hearing the accolades of a ministry done in the name of Jesus.
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Gail;
-----I don’t think Jesus goes brain dead to our faults just so He can love us. In fact, I don’t believe that would be love. Love is most basically to desire what is truly good for the one loved. Good also involves the overcoming of faults. And for good influence to dissolve poor characteristics, faults must be noted. I believe Jesus knows and sees our faults to the last, most insignificant one. But at any moment in our lives we are capable of bearing only so much exposure to the whole of them. The human psyche will simply collapse into despair when overfilled with the awareness of its own delinquency. I think He gets to know us better because of our faults so He can be careful to expose to us only those faults which we can bear without breaking, “...He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick till He brings justice to victory.” (Mat 12:20, Isa 43:2)
-----I likewise try to measure my responses to others, whether they be the response of noticing a fault or of actually communicating what I have noticed. The New Testament calls His children to actively build one another up. Overcoming faults is one of the many ways in which that up-building occurs. But the bruised-reed/smoldering-wick principle must be applied whether it is yourself and your fault or another and their fault at issue. So observing the fault is one thing (and I personally believe it is a continuously important thing,) while dwelling upon it for analysis or emotional registration is quite another. It may be important to not dwell upon it at all. If a sister’s beloved ministry were denied her by law or church, or a brother’s beloved grandchild died, I am certain it would be important to hear all about either without giving mental question to any impropriety of the hurt one’s carrying on. But in other cases, where plain boasting is behind the avalanche of accolades flooding you over, it may be important to not only dwell upon its impropriety, but also upon what level of exposure to the fault this bruised reed/smoldering wick might be able to bear. The better you know the person the more effectively you can make a careful communication that will do actual good without further bruising the reed or snuffing the smolder. Therefore, oddly enough, it seems to me that the godly response to faults in others is to get to know them better so whatever you might be able to offer them may be more effective for them.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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