A
thought by Brant Hansen (2015-04-14) from his book, Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better (p.
11). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to
Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Now we may
not say that out loud. Well maybe we do
at least once a week but we do think it more that we say it. Don’t we?
Brant
says, “Many times in my life, I’ve vocalized, in traffic, something like, ‘Man,
what a jerk.’ I can’t remember ever, not once, saying, ‘Man, I’m a jerk.’ Why?
Because I’m a victim. My intentions are pure. Other people are the perps. I’m
never a perp.” We think that too many
times, don’t we?
He
goes on, “It’s as natural as breathing, but that doesn’t make it right. It’s as
universal as eating, but that doesn’t make it right either. Because whatever
they did? We’re just as guilty.”
He
continues, “I’m not entitled to my anger against them, and I’m not entitled to
think I’m entitled to my anger. And yet, many tell me that we can, even should,
keep our anger for a time. I ask, ‘How long are you allowed?’ and I’ve heard
the same answer, many times: ‘You can keep it for a little while.’ Sounds
reasonable. Sure. Absolutely. But merely ‘reasonable’ isn’t what we’re going
for here. We want to follow the gospel, wherever it takes us. God has a way for
us to live— a humility that He has called us to— and it’s the way we humans
happen to really flourish. It’s how you will flourish.”
And
I want to flourish, don’t you?
Comments
Post a Comment