I Am Right

NOTE: the title of today's post is intended to convey a bit of irony. That should come across in the post.

When I started the post "What Makes Famous People Famous?" I was actually intending to take it in a completely different direction, but it took on a life of its own. I'm attempting to give those original ideas another shot here.

In 11th grade I was dating a girl and we had plans to go to the mall one afternoon (woo hoo!). She asked if her friend "Sabrina" could go, too, since she didn't have anything to do that day. Of course, I was thrilled with this idea (...not really. My personality and that of "Sabrina" mixed like oil and water).

So I ironed my shirt and picked them up and we all went to the mall. I was proud of myself that day, feeling pretty mature for having ironed my own shirt. Some time during our gleeful walk around the mall, I mentioned that I'd ironed my shirt myself. "Sabrina," barely able to get this short sentence out without bursting forth in snorts of laughter, exclaimed, "I can tell!! Ha ha ha ha ha..." (etc.)

As it turns out, she wasn't just being mean. I'd missed some wrinkled sections on the back of the shirt.

Most of the time, we think we're right. You think you're right. I think I'm right. Assumption of our own "rightness" on any given issue is usually a plumb line by which we determine someone else's perceived rightness. As a rule, we frame the whole world like this. Assuming that I'd ironed my shirt perfectly led me to think that "Sabrina" was just a total jerk. Maybe there was some "jerk" in her delivery, but she was correct in her implication that I'd done a poor job.

I remember friend and blogger Bill making a post about us praying for someone and asking God to correct them, when all along it might be our perception that is really the thing that needs correction. From that blog: "...praying for things like 'help them see their current path may not fit your plan' or 'Help him/her understand your message'. What if they already understand His message? What if it's ME that doesn't understand?"

I'm not talking about some kind of subjective morality or the non-sensical idea that all roads lead to God. Two plus two doesn't equal five. I'm mainly talking about Christ-followers dealing with other Christ-followers, and some of the subjective things that we have installed in our lives as personal "gospel."

Forgive me for using the NIV here (if necessary), but it stands up well in these two verses: "Jesus answered, 'My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.'" (John 7:16-17, NIV)

If we're looking for correct teaching and knowledge, we must first choose to do God's will. It doesn't end here, but today's post does...

Posted in: Christianity, Life, Wisdom