Love vs Right

 Yesterday's good thing was taking the kids I usually childmind out for the day. Their parents are still working from home and schools closed early so there were three days this week which they hadn't planned on being holiday time.  So I offered to have them for the best part of the day and take them on an adventure.

the best fun of the day was had with two sticks and some water. 
They spent ages just dabbling :)

In the car I listened to their chat. It reminded me of listening to my boys chatting at the same age. Some of it was hilarious but some of it was annoying. Specifically the parts where elder brother (8) insisted on correcting everything younger sister (5) said.  I remember a couple of years when Sam insisted on 'bettering' his brothers at every opportunity. It drove me mad. Listening to Lewis do the same to his sister today made me wonder if it's an eldest child thing. In which case I undoubtably did it to my brother too!!

There's something in our human nature from the youngest age which just loves to be right.  Not only do we love to be right, but we have a need to let everyone else know we are right. And in so doing we establish that someone else is wrong. We are superior. We know more.  The other is made to feel stupid and ridiculous.  It's ugly and proud and mean. But I suspect its in all of us.  

Jesus, on the other hand, was the only man who has ever been right about absolutely everything. And yet He felt no need to put us down,  make us feel small and useless and insignificant. He didn't come to the world to condemn it but to lovingly adjust our perception of God by demonstrating the right way of living.  And by making a way for us to live that life with the gift of His spirit.

As I listened to Lewis repeatedly saying 'no Hollie, it's not that, it's this'  yesterday, I wondered why it annoyed me so much. I think it's because I'm an exhorter and I hate it when the opposite of exhortation is happening. To me, discouragement is the most discouraging thing.  I think this is how God feels when He hears the enemy constantly telling us where we are going wrong.  The voice in our ears that tells us we are slow, stupid, not good or clever or spiritual enough is like the elder brother.  The elder brother never lets us express our own opinion, venture our own ideas or learn through discussion and discovery.  He just slaps us down with condemnation.  This voice is not the voice of God. 

Many years ago I heard a preacher called John Smith speaking at Greenbelt.  One thing he said has stuck in my head for decades.  It is more important to love than to be right.   As we approach Christmas day with the inevitable family 'discussions' and irritations and stresses lets all try to remember that it's more important to love than to be right.  Let's not be the voice of the elder brother.  Let's be like Jesus.