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Last week I linked to a blog post by my friend Dave about “dangerous thinking”. If you clicked over to that, perhaps it gave you pause as it did me that whatever “truth” God is teaching us at the moment can be super dangerous in our attitude toward other people. Knowledge can “puff up” as the Bible says, and boy is that true. Even when we don’t try, if we learn something it tends to make us (involuntarily) “look down” on people who think differently. Or, at least we can come across this way.
I thought of this as I was pondering how I might come across to some people as “aloof”. Perhaps as God continues to reveal to me a “better” way for me to live with him daily, I can present that truth in a way that makes people feel like I am condemning their way of doing things. Now, obviously there is a place for confrontation, and perhaps even condemnation. Jesus did plenty of condemning of the self-righteous Pharisees who proudly touted their righteousness that was only a front anyway. But I think for the most part, God wants to reveal truth to people in a more loving way than a confrontation, or a superior, my-way-is-better attitude.
All of this has just made me reconsider the way that I carry myself around other believers especially. I love to share the things God is teaching me, but I am asking him to show me how to do so in a way that makes people excited about their own relationship with their loving Father. I know he can, and I look forward to him working that in me over the next days, weeks, years… decades? 🙂
Sometimes, I can be a bit slow…
🙂
I write this to encourage you. There are some great things that God has revealed about himself to you. Some ways you know him differently than I do. He wants you to live in those and share those with others. But somehow, the mindset of superiority that can creep in must be constantly replaced by a love for him and his children that surpasses that. If you have any stories to share about how he has worked something like that in and through you, you are welcome to post them as comments here. Just click on the comment link and post away! I would love to hear some stories of how God is working in your life and how he has revealed himself to you!