53. Everyone Wants to be Right

Everyone wants to be right. You never want to be that guy that gets made fun of, that guy that said something weird, that guy that didn't make sense, that guy that says dumb jokes, or that guy that nobody respects. You never want to be that guy that was wrong. Actually, it's more than just being wrong. Nobody wants to be in an inferior position, looked down on, or disrespected. Nobody wants to be told, "You have the wrong idea." Right?

Quite the opposite.

Paul writes:
"Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?" (1 Cor 6:7)

Wanting to be right is utter failure. Instead of wanting to be right all the time, we should rather accept wrong and be cheated. Weird, huh? But, God says we will be blessed if we suffer for righteousness. If people think we're wrong even though we didn't do anything wrong, God will reward us for suffering the injustice.

But this carries to normal social situations. In conversation, don't we always want to be the guy that makes a good point? That makes a good joke? That people listen to? That people think is right? Don't we try to deflect embarrassment and try to change the subject when things could potentially be bad for us? Why not accept wrong and be cheated in these situations? Why not suffer a bad reputation? Why not be made fun of? Why not be criticized for making a bad point? Why not have people think poorly of you?

Sure, there's always the polite, "Oh no, I'm not really that good," but when it's not those obvious let-me-humble-myself-so-that-I-don't-appear-proud-to-others situations, are we willing to have people look poorly on us at our cost? Are we willing to have people think we're wrong?

Let us, instead, love correction. Let us love disciple (Pr 12:1). Let us love accepting that we made mistakes. Let us not always desire to have the upper hand in the conversations. Let us believe that we can always potentially be wrong. We should be willing to be looked down upon and not care so much if others give us credibility or face. Let us not always want to be right.