There’s more to experience in life if you rise above reason. You can be more than is reasonable, too!
It’s Reasonable To Be Angry
You privately – in confidence – tell a close friend a deep, dark secret about yourself. Something that could be particularly embarrassing. Something you wouldn’t want everyone to know, but that you desperately need to get off your chest before you can move forward.
Within days, you find that nearly all your other friends and family are aware of this secret. Your confidant betrayed your trust. You’re horrified, embarrassed, and angry.
Well, of course you are! Someone you trusted with some very personal and sensitive information decided to tell everyone else about it! It’s completely reasonable for you to be angry.
But should you be?
Why You Should Rise Above Reason
I’m not trying to suggest that being angry in this scenario would be wrong. After all, as I said, it’s entirely reasonable for you to be angry. But just because it’s reasonable, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s what you should do.
God came into the world through a virgin, lived a completely sinless life, was tortured and killed by Romans, and then, not only did He rise from the dead, we are told He is going to come back again.
Like The X Files or Twin Peaks. Or Roseanne (who saw that coming? It came like a thief in the night)!
It would be reasonable to assume that that story is complete nonsense (that’s not even the really bonkers stuff) and that anyone who believes it is completely Batsy Cline. But if we simply did what was reasonable, would we have this special relationship with God?
What miracles would we see, or experience?
And what about Hope? Would there be any?
Reasonable Justification
One of my favorite moments in the story of Jesus is when – after being tortured, ridiculed, and all but torn apart – He regards the Roman centurions who are nailing Him to the cross and, instead of chastising them, looks up to God and says, “forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”
I think about this moment constantly. Especially when I feel so wronged that I believe tearing apart another human being would be completely reasonable – that I would even be justified in doing it.
It would have been completely reasonable for Jesus to berate His torturers here. It would have made complete sense for Him to even condemn them to Hell for committing such an egregious act against the living embodiment of God (or, even, just to himself, a person)!
But He didn’t. In the midst of a terrible, terrible pain, He asked God to forgive them.
Would you have done that?
There’s more to experience in life if you rise above reason.
You can be more than is reasonable, too!
Be More Than Is Reasonable
As human beings we fall into these traps where we believe if we’ve been wronged (or, perhaps, if someone we love has been wronged) we feel justified in our response.
Your trust has been betrayed by a good friend. It’s reasonable to be angry. It’s reasonable that you would want to seek justice. It’s even reasonable that that justice might take the form of disclosing deep, dark secrets about your betrayer.
But should you? Is that who you want to be? Is that the person you want everyone to know? Spiteful? Angry? Deceitful?
We can rise above that. We don’t have to settle for “reasonable”. In fact, “reasonable” should just be a base line.
In other words, if your reaction to being wronged feels logical, take at least one step above that – to another level – and jump from there.
At the end of the day, the anger that boils up inside you isn’t something that happens to you. It’s something you choose. It’s up to you to decide to hate or be angry, regardless of how reasonable that anger, or its consequent actions, may truly be.
Be more than is reasonable. Rise above reason.
Share Your Story
When have you acted out in a way that you felt was reasonable? What could you have done differently? Have you acted out in ways that rose above reason? Share your thoughts and experiences below!
You can also share your story and chat with the Ender Bowen Community on Discord by Clicking Here.