“Wanna hear the most annoying
sound in the world? Aaaaahhhhhnnaaeeeeyyyyyaaank!”
That’s a direct quote from the blockbuster comedy film “Dumb and Dumber” starring Jim Carrey as Lloyd Christmas. It was a very funny moment but I recommend the edited version.
I must admit I laughed out of my chair during that movie. But I think it illustrates a point – sometimes we think we are connecting and communicating positively and effectively with others when we might be making the most annoying sound in the world.
We live in a world of “so that…”
Most people today do what they do, so that:
~ their spouse does something in return.
~ they can get promoted.
~ others are impressed with them.
~ they can get a tax write-off
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with doing something positive to get something in return.
But I Corinthians 13:5 really sets the bar high when it says, “Love is not self-seeking.” And then at the beginning of the “Love Chapter” it says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels but have not love, I’m like a… clashing cymbal.”
Can you imagine walking into a group of people who are clashing their cymbals as loud as they can in your direction?
That might just be the most annoying sound in the world – people who speak God’s truth to others but they have no love.
What is love? Well for one thing it is not self-seeking. When you love another, you seek to help them with no “so that” whatsoever. Also it is totally focused on the other person. Don’t you hate it when well-intended know-it-alls talk AT you or ABOUT you rather than TO you, or WITH you?
If we truly love our neighbor we will lift them off the side of the road, bind up their brokenness, bring the healing oil of compassion and grace and hang in there with them through their pain.
Why? Because love does without any “so that”. We don’t think about how our service might impress others, or how a good deed might benefit our reputation or political or vocational goals. We do simply because Love Does.
Let’s try to remove the “so thats” in our lives and start discovering what real love is all about.
Hey, you want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?
Until next time,
Jeff
