People Who Complain--The Wisdom of G.K. Chesterton

I have been reading The Complete Father Brown mysteries by G.K. Chesterton since November. In two volumes, this collection includes all of the great cleric's investigative exploits in early 20th century England. Each short story is filled with pithy apothegms from Father Brown, delivered in his unassuming, innocent, winsome, and inimitable style. In "The Actor and the Alibi" (The Secret of Father Brown), the good priest declares, "People who complain are just jolly, human, Christian nuisances; I don't mind them. But people who complain that they never complain are the devil. They are really the devil; isn't that swagger of stoicism the whole point of the Byronic cult of Satan?" (pp.93-94).

I love Father Brown because he is keenly aware of the affectations and falsities of humans, and he isn't afraid to name them for what they really are. He is unnervingly perceptive to the reality of evil and Satan's work without being a mystical, superstitious flake.

In ministry, I find myself often more concerned about how other people will take my words, especially when they are critical. That, in itself, is evil, placing whoever I happen to be talking to in the position of a god. That is to say, we can graciously speak truth into people's lives--naming sin for what it is--and perhaps especially in those times and for those people who are most convinced that they are the most virtuous, most righteous ones.