We have all been burned in the past. We have all been subjected to situations where wish things had been different. Different words, different tones, different lines of reasoning, and different levels of respect. We have all been subjected to other people's sin issues and weaknesses. This is just part of being human. Maybe it was a boss at work. Maybe it was a friend. Maybe it was a parent. This creates hurt in our lives. Usually we need to process this hurt and that means speaking about those situations with others or simply having conversations in our own head.
In addition to hurt from our past, we are constantly processing and assessing different situations, personalities, and controversies that are emerge around us at all times. He said, she said. That leader did what? Did you hear about so and so? We live with the front page news staring us in the face.
As I attempt to diagnose my own heart, these two scenarios form one of the great battlegrounds of pride in my life. I know for me, as I process those who have hurt me in the past or situations today where someone “just doesn't seem to get it”, my assessment can quickly default into the pharisaical position of smug superiority. I have practically memorized the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector and yet I still find myself, over and over again, in the position of the Pharisee.
I default into a man who arrogantly stands afar with his arms crossed and internally says, " Look how I have it all together; this idiot over here doesn't have it together like me." Usually this is in the name of "what I am learning" or "standing up for the truth" but often I glean a keen sense of subtle superiority from hashing out all those situations and it easily turns into gossipy conversations with others about others.
There is certainly a time to stand up for the truth, to dissect sin issues of others, to assault heresy, talk about a foolish public figure, and/or process a painful past. In a fallen world, it has to be this way and always will be until the coming day when Jesus makes all things right. But the greater question concerns our posture. What emotions do we carry? What conversations do we have with others? What is the tone and content of those conversations? Do we have a "I sure am glad I’m not like that idiot" attitude? Or, "How in the world could he screw that one up so badly?!?!?" As if people have never wondered those same questions about me.
Controversy is always going to swirl around us, especially in the information age. Jesus' teachings about the plank and the speck remain timelessly simple yet painfully difficult to manifest in daily life. Having a plank in your own eye doesn't dismiss the speck in someone else's eye. It's a sinful speck and sin has to be dealt with. But having a gapping plank of sin in your own eye is probably going to alter the manner and measure with which you remove your brother/sister's speck.
So as you process the mistakes people made in the past that have deeply affected you or you look around today and assess different issues, controversies, or personalities, does your default setting lean towards smug superiority or repentance?
Sadly, I know that I am too often the Pharisee. Pharisees need Jesus. Pharisees can be forgiven too.
God chooses to use us in spite of our weaknesses. It's hard to read the Bible and not see that as a theme through almost every narrative. Moses was a murderer, Noah was a drunk, Abraham was a liar, David was a murderer and an adulterer, and Peter was a loud-mouthed racist. I am so thankful that God chose to use those men in spite of their glaring weaknesses. I pray he uses me too.
**Clarification**
With the tragedy at Penn State looming large I want to make sure that readers understand that I am not writing this column with those events in mind. Though not completely unrelated, that would have to be a completely different piece entirely. The word "controversy" in the title speaks to controversies in general.
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