Posted on by Abe Austin

The Threat of Good People- Awkward Children

Good people, by their very existence, provide an existential threat to the wicked. And I do not mean people that claim that they are good, or which assume the moral high ground, I mean those who genuinely live principles of goodness. People who are loving, who are humble, who willingly sacrifice, who show mercy and forgiveness, who every day try to be a better version of themselves. These are the best of people, but they are also the greatest of threats.

Not a threat in the sense that there is a risk of them attacking or harming others. Of all people, genuinely good people are clearly the safest. But they are a threat to the ego, a threat to illusion, a threat to those who are insecure.

Early Beginnings)

The pattern of insecure people feeling threatened by the successful and seeking to tear them down begins when we are still children. As children, we go through many awkward and insecure phases. Most of us care a lot about what others think of us. We crave attention. We become willing to do anything to gain the admiration of the opposite sex. Unfortunately, many of us meet abject failure in these arenas many times, and those failures hurt very, very much. What makes it all the worse, is seeing a peer who is cool, casual, and content. A peer who is not only more socially adept, but who also doesn’t care when he does commit a rare faux pas. The confident child becomes a mirror showing how awkward and warped we are in comparison, something that we desperately don’t want to see. So…we seek to break the mirror.

Today, I work with the youth in my church, and I see this age-old pattern still playing out. The most insecure children try to tear down the most secure. They mock and disparage, even become physically violent, all to try and drag the confident child beneath them. They would rather a world where no one was secure, where everyone was awkward, because at least that would mean that there was nothing wrong with them. Obviously, this is not the only pattern of childhood bullying, there are many other categories of perpetrators and targets, but from my observation this is one of the patterns that does emerge.

But if this pattern begins in us as children, how much further can it go in adulthood? How do things escalate when mere awkwardness is replaced with guilty and shameful behavior? When sin stands in stark contrast to the good and pure? When “being worse” means “being evil?” We will explore that aspect tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Family of God- Luke 22:24-26, Romans 12:3-6

And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.

COMMENTARY

And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest
We have a common insecurity. We all want to be the best, the smartest, the favorite. We want to be the hero of the story, and have everyone else be the supporting characters. We fight for the love of parents, teachers, coaches, and mentors. We don’t just want them to approve of us, we want them to choose us above all others.
To be clear, our individuality is not a sin. There is nothing wrong in wanting to be a distinct person, in fact that uniqueness is a wondrous gift from God. But we do not need to convolute that beauty by making it into a competition.
Perhaps this insecurity is part of our nature, or maybe it is inflicted on us by life’s disappointments. Whatever the cause, at some point or another we grow uncertain either that we are unique, or that our uniqueness is good. So what does one do with this insecurity?

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us
The scriptures might not support us in trying to be better than one another, but this one does give us permission to be better at some things. You can honestly and proudly acknowledge that you really do have your own strengths. Your special abilities distinguish you from the rest of the world in wonderful ways.
It is not God’s intention for you to live crippled by your insecurities. He wants to give you have a one-of-a-kind role to play, one suited to your unique and precious talents. Then, by acknowledging your divine individuality, you will finally be able to let go of your insecurities and allow that everyone else can have their own individuality as well.