Thoughts: I've assumed for a few years now that the more evolved a person's self-concept—the more evolved their emotional and spiritual development (especially in the Christian faith)—the more humble and aw-shucks they'd be. I certainly have some finger-in-the-eye favorites, cerebral stalwarts from past and present ages who buck up my ideology, but, for the most part, in my day-to-day relationships, I esteem humility and genuine smiles. Incidents of arrogance usually signal me that someone has more growth to go. However, it was recently suggested to me that healthy, "congruent" people weigh jerk-ness and humility and find a balance. I'm willing to lend this a bit of credence because of the own distressing incongruities in my life that produce a volley of attacks on affable, compassionate Matthew from the passive-aggressive, cynical parts of myself. Still, I hesitate from imbuing this observation with too much suggestive power—interpersonal relationships hardly suffer from too many compassionate, humble people. Moreover, the call to Christ-likeness is cheap and bastardized if it is reduced to a call for psychological healthiness based on the individual's sense of wholeness and getting what they want out of relationships.
What are your thoughts? What's the tension between being an ass and being genial, between humility and steadfastness? What attributes do you prefer in your church leaders?
1 comment:
You know what I'll say Matthew. I say it over and over again. Servant heart, humility, kick pride to the curb. But, be strong about it. Some people would like to suggest that humility and servanthood are week qualities. A quote pertaining to this I may have already shown you, I'll post below. All this to say, people will make excuses to justify what they know or feel is faulty in themselves. But is it biblical?
Just a thought. The quote is below
"A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in." --C.S. Lewis
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