Chris Chris Christians

          He approaches the podium in slow thoughtful walk.  He looks up and in deep stare says “Let’s pray”, even though the man before him just did that.  He softens his voice and pauses at just the right moment to let you know how much more meaningful this prayer is. Then he starts his talk. His message is about him, no Bible story, no focus on the scriptures.  He tells you about his successes, more than you could do, his problems, they are harder than yours, and how he has overcome them, better than you would have.  He gives more sacrificially than you, is a better parent than you, prays more than you, and cares more than you.  Oh, he never comes out and says any of those things, but in a very humble bragging sort of way he get the point across. You see everything everyone else is doing could be fixed if people were more like him.  When he is finished, he doesn't expect you to tell him how good his message was, he already knows.

          Have you met this guy?  I think we all have at least once. (In actuality, I have been that guy more than once.) You know, “that” guy, the one we all hate, who thinks of himself a little more highly than he ought. The guy who does that thing that gets under our skin. It may not be any one thing that you can put a finger on but rather an overall attitude of superiority that oozes from him.  That ting of arrogance, that underhanded boast, that “why are you as good as me” question.

          Why does he do it? Maybe he is just that arrogant.  Or maybe it is, as my momma used to tell me, “People that are bragging about themselves are trying to convince themselves as much as others”.  When that guy has been this guy, I know it has been true.  It happens to people that preach. They know their inadequacies and feel the need to hide them and over emphasis themselves in order to live up to the “expert” status. They want people to listen to them so that build themselves up. It’s ironic however, that is exactly the wrong way about it.

             In Paul’s life, we see someone that stared his life out like that guy. Arrogant, brash, convinced of his own correctness. But after the road to Damascus, and further along in his life he see a different person.  In 2^nd Corinthians 12:9-10 he writes, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Rather than build himself up, he will tell you about his failings. Rather than brag about his successes, he will tell you about his weakness. His message isn't about him it is about the Lord (2^nd Corinthians 10:17). Not what he has done, but what the Lord has done for him.

 True honest humility is one of the most powerful ways to reach people. That guy that brags and places himself in the spotlight, his lesson will only remember because of how much we disliked it. The greatest lessons are the ones where the speaker blends into the background so the Lord can be in the spotlight.