Contempt it another word for resentment that is usually birthed by an inconvenience of some kind.
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”
Ephesians 4:31
Some men resent the birth of their children, as it reduces the amount of sex they get in marriage. Some men resent their families, since they are the reason he has to grind away at the 9-5 that is eating his soul. Many men resent the church, more than they would care to admit. Worship is an inconvenience to them. It takes away their Sunday, one of their only off-days from work and forces them to exist around people that annoy them more than any other people.
Contempt is a deadly disease closely related to holding a grudge for an extended period of time. Because both exist within the individual and can live for years without him even knowing they are there. You might feel the slight gnawing feeling every time your alarm clock goes off on a Sunday and you have to get dressed to be around people who claim to wear the name of Christ but in reality take no action for their faith.
Chronic contempt eventually leads man to forsake the church.
Eventually, the weight of the monotony, boredom and restriction disintegrates the mind until man can take no more. He resents the church for robbing him of his freedom. Everything they want to do in life has been taken away by God with the promise of something better, some future reward, if only they can learn to wait and restrain themselves.
This restriction is the breeding ground for contempt. The feeling that we are missing out on the few things in life that are actually enjoyable: Sex, alcohol, drugs, freedom are what the God appears to take away from man. Man believes he has a hope for salvation, but in his heart of hearts he knows that he has no idea what will happen on judgement day. He knows the God who destroys without mercy, and assumes that he himself will also be destroyed without mercy. Man rejects the church because of these thoughts. He rejects the church because of contempt.
Men don’t just get up and leave the church because of some huge argument, a church split or personal problem. They leave because of the slow decay of contempt that has been rotting their faith for years. The resentment for the church and its people grows daily, until one day the man can take no more and he leaves the church. This was not an overnight transformation. Very few great trees fall because they are split by a lightning strike, most fall because of the slow decay of insects feeding on them until one day they no longer have the structural support to stand. Such is the way of the contemptful man and his faith. We must avoid this poison of contemptuousness at all costs.
Mantra
Contempt is a slow death that must be eliminated.
Application
Take a good look in the mirror, into your soul and search out the contempt you may have within yourself. If you are not self-aware, you may not notice the damage that contempt is doing to you over time. Awareness, again, is key. Vigilance is the only way to take note of the disease of contempt and attempt to purge it from the soul.
In many cases, the awareness alone will cure the contempt, in other cases you must trace your resentment to the root.
Why are you resentful? Possibly because God has placed massive regulation on the way you can live, and it seems like your freedom is taken from you. This is a source of contempt for many a man. But remember, anything worth gaining requires restriction. A tremendous physiques requires dietary restriction. To become a doctor requires restrictions on time and enjoyable activities to make time for work. Nothing great is ever built without restrictions in other areas of life.
You must master this and rearrange the thoughts in your mind. Change the routine of thought into something else. Hotwire those thoughts before they follow their set pattern into death. Be a Man.
- Identify the source of your personal contempt (Having to go to church/restrictions on sex etc.).
- Trace the source of contempt to the root by asking and answering questions in your mind (why do these restrictions make me feel contemptful? Am I mad about the restrictions on sex or am I simply embarrassed because of my chastity? Maybe the problem is my embarrassment).
- Begin undoing these thoughts in your mind. Cut them off from the source and do not allow the thoughts to even start. If they do start, short circuit them by running through your questions from #2 and recognizing the irrationality of those thoughts.
Conduct Yourselves Like Men.
