Are You This Word?

There is a word that has been in my head the last few days. I use it every once in a while and figured I had a pretty good handle on what it meant. I looked it up and realized that the definition is even more powerful than what I thought it meant.

 

Here it is- Exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one's situation; self-righteously complacent.

 

Sounds like a powerful word doesn't it? Do you know what word I'm talking about? I'll tell you this- this word is not a word that you want people to use to describe you. Especially if you are a person who considers yourself a follower of Jesus.

 

Here's what I've noticed lately. There are a contingent of people whom I have met, and whom I know that are every sense of this word. It drips out of their pores and comes out of their mouth. You can smell it on their breath. They exude it. They live it. They are it.

 

This person is a person that in essence, looks down on other people and finds great satisfaction that they are somewhere that other people are not. They have arrived, you have not. They know it all, you do not. They have all they need, they don't care if you do.

 

The word? Smug.

 

That's right. Smug. Its a powerful word. Not one that I want people to use to describe me. Its a very descriptive word though. One that none of us should attain to have used to describe us. Why? Because a person who is smug has lost the capacity for compassion. They've distanced themselves from others in an attempt to feel better about their own condition and have found great satisfaction that they know or have something that others don't.

 

Don't ever become smug. Don't ever think that you're better than someone else. Don't think that as long as your comfortable that it doesn't matter if others aren't. God has called us all to be humble people who reach out to people, not isolate ourselves to feel better about ourselves. We are supposed to be loving people, and people who are loving.

 

God never intended us to be smug. In fact quite the opposite- he expects us to consider others better than ourselves- Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

 

I realize that one could argue that talking about not being smug, or challenging others not to be smug, may be a bit smuggy itself. This is not my intention- we shall work together to eradicate smuggyness from the planet. You and I together shall not be smug.

 

Chew on that today. Do you think you're better than others? You might be smug, and smug my friend is not a word you want others to use to describe you.

 

Have a blessed day.

matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog