The Pig Likes the Dirt

The same people who developed the "self esteem" teaching were also the foolish ones who concocted the "lean into your feelings" nonsense.

When feeling good about oneself no matter what the character or accomplishments becomes the goal of ones life the more they will focus their attention to how they feel rather than reality.

Feelings lie to us, they say things are good when they are bad and they say things are bad when they are good. We cannot trust feelings, they are based on personal desires not good sense.

I am glad that bridges and buildings are build on science and not on feelings.

Many people "feel" hurt or angry when they are corrected. When correction wells up the pride in us to feel hurt, then we need to ignore that feeling and that pride and concentrate on the meaning of what is actually said.

When good feelings are the goal then little is learned, there is no movement toward character improvement when we cannot hear a matter unless it makes us feel good.

Notice that often the one who corrects is accused of not saying something the right way rather than addressing "what" is said.

This is a typical response of a prideful person. They do not evaluate what is said. In fact they interpret whats was said in terms of their own feelings instead of what actually transpired.
These people will accuse a truth teller of not being kind when they were kind. The accusation of an unkind delivery is not accurate most of the time. When someone is honest and open desiring truth, they don't notice "how" it was said, they can see the words of instruction as worthy of evaluation.

Feelings distract us from the truth being conveyed, missing an opportunity to learn something new about ourselves and the ensuing change because of the lack of humility to hear.

Can we take seriously one who says I love God, while they are rejecting His truth, even lacking obedience to the truth? Anyone who rages at truth while accusing the delivery is a manipulator distracting the conversation from the real issue to blame those who are corrective.

We see this more in our culture than we experience humility and willingness to learn something they may not realize.

Another mantra we see as a distraction from any discussion is "you are judging me." A good answer to that might be, "lets get passed the fact that you feel judged and look squarely at "what" I just said." If they continue to rant deterring from the issue at hand, then is the time to leave the conversation. These are those who will not hear. Shaking the dust from our feat is the next action we must take.

Matthew 10:14 "14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town."

Proverbs 29:9 "If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest."

There will be no rest in an argument with a fool, they will engage in nonsensical circular arguments never resting on the original topic while causing chaos in the entire room. All eyes are on the fool, but sadly those in the room blame the one who corrects as to blame for the uncomfortable situation. The fools like this, they do it for this purpose and are often successful.

George Bernard Shaw once said this: "never wrestle with a pig, you will both get dirty and besides the pig likes it. "

God says it this way: Matthew 7:6 " 6 Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."