I struggle with arrogant people who do not realize how important I am…
All day I have been struggling with how to write this post. It has become apparent that one cannot write about arrogance without feeling a bit arrogant. Paul seemed to do it well in 2 Corinthians 12:11 -13 when he was taking on the arrogance of the Corinthian believer’s head on.
I have been noticing arrogance more and more lately. I see it in folks who are more interested in sharing their own thoughts than understanding, when they are around wisdom rather than ask questions they lecture. I have seen that happen more times than I can count, and it always baffles me. It is the type of person who purports to know essentially everything. There is no topic on which they are not experts; questions are not a part of their repertoire. I have seen people like this talk incessantly in front of experts “informing” the expert on the expert’s specialty. Writing this Proverbs 18:2 came to mind.
The problem is I tend to do this myself. There have been too many times I have found myself speaking when I should have been listening. Reality is I do not know what I do not know. I am learning to ask more questions. I am learning that the gifts stuff in the Bible is real. There are people that I need to instruct me. I need to learn from them. That takes listening more than talking. It means questions rather than statements.
I have been noticing arrogance more and more lately. I see it in folks who are more interested in sharing their own thoughts than understanding, when they are around wisdom rather than ask questions they lecture. I have seen that happen more times than I can count, and it always baffles me. It is the type of person who purports to know essentially everything. There is no topic on which they are not experts; questions are not a part of their repertoire. I have seen people like this talk incessantly in front of experts “informing” the expert on the expert’s specialty. Writing this Proverbs 18:2 came to mind.
The problem is I tend to do this myself. There have been too many times I have found myself speaking when I should have been listening. Reality is I do not know what I do not know. I am learning to ask more questions. I am learning that the gifts stuff in the Bible is real. There are people that I need to instruct me. I need to learn from them. That takes listening more than talking. It means questions rather than statements.
This was hard to write yesterday - but it must have struck some kind of chord. Two men stopped me at church today and shared experiences that were similar to mine.
ReplyDeleteWell, add a third, with more experience in it than most. I have a lot to share, and love to share it. Reminds me of threshing day on the farm. Chaff flew everywhere, all over...
DeleteIt's a great post. However, there are some people out there who are truly, truly arrogant and don't feel satisfied unless they talk down to others. And these people truly bother me. I am certainly not better than anyone, but nobody is better than me. We all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. ALL OF US!
ReplyDeleteBoy is that not true! The all have sinned part, that is. Prof used to remind us that we were given an AV tool buy the Lord when He gave us two ears and only one mouth. His point was that we should use them in proportion to the way they were given.
DeleteThanks for taking time to comment.