Thursday, December 9, 2010

spiritual ARROGANCE?

Arrogance...that is a strong word and when you talk about spiritual arrogance it goes to an entirely new level. Nothing makes the Christian look less like Christ than arrogance. We are a people who have been blessed with truth. We have been redeemed through Christ. We also never see Jesus modeling arrogance for his followers. Why do we see so much arrogance in the lives of people who claim to follow Christ? I seriously believe it is this arrogance that keeps many from the church today. Arrogance drives people away. Arrogance does not allow questions. Arrogance does not listen. The challenge for leaders today is to confront spiritual arrogance and not be afraid to challenge it. Donald Miller talked about the spiritual arrogance he sees in this generation recently on his blog...(this post caught a ton of flack and is not on the blog anymore, it still appeared in my Google reader, I think Donald nailed it)

But I’ve noticed something. I’ve noticed that a little bit of truth in the hands of the immature turns immediately into a sense of superiority, and usually an attack on whatever position is seen as contradictory.
 

What is really happening here is a young man who is struggling for an identity, to tell the world that he is right and smart, uses some bit of theology as a flag for his identity, skipping the part where the truth about God he has learned humbles him and brings him to his knees, and makes his heart tender and broken for those who are suffering outside the unconditional love of Christ. It’s a disgusting trick, and it isn’t from God.
 

When we are young or immature, right theology makes us feel superior, but when we are older and more mature, a study of theology makes us feel inferior and unworthy, undeserved, and grateful.

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