Be not righteous over much;
neither make thyself over wise:
why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
(Ecclesiastes 7:16)
what does this mean?
I don’t know if funny is the word to best describe this but here goes;
I have always valued intelligence. Being of a curious nature I always had questions. When I read in James about praying for wisdom and expect results, I prayed diligently for wisdom and understanding. Something happened. The scriptures opened up to me, my memory improved fantastically and every puzzle seemed solvable. The problem with this is, the smarter I felt, the duller everyone else seemed. I rationalize everything and all seems like folly. I began to be frustrated with everyone and lose my patience with my kids for “child like” behaviour.
Something else, there are something called mirror neurons you can look up. It is a learning tool hardwired into our brains. It basically is the cause of empathy. We “feel” what others feel who are close to us, and subordinate to us. It’s why we wince when we see others get hit in sensitive areas, and cry when others cry. Those who see themselves as superior wont have this reaction to those considered inferior. This also explains all of the atrocities performed on peoples throughout history, and feel perfectly justified in doing so. Empathy can only exist in an equality situation.
In order to happily serve another, it is beneficial to rejoice because they rejoice and weep because they weep. This is what we are called to do...love. If we are not producing good fruit, are we bad trees, destined for destruction?