"Rats in the Cellar"

There are many moments in life that reveal our character. On a few rare occasions, good times or blessing can reveal something about our personality. But it is more often the tough times that truly show what we’re made of and what we harbor in our inner person.

Nearly anyone can plan and anticipate situations that may come to pass – and to some extent plan how they will respond to those situations. Oftentimes, however, situations come upon us that we cannot anticipate, never in a million years. How we react at those painful or embarrassing or difficult moments is the most revealing insight into our basic nature.

C.S. Lewis saw this and wrote the following: “Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is. If there are rats in a cellar, you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats; it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way, the suddenness of the provocation does not make me ill-tempered; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am.”

When you are caught off guard, what is your first instinct? When you’ve been unexpectedly hurt or slighted, where do your thoughts lead? How many rats are there in YOUR cellar? What does it take for them to get loose?

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. – James 1:19-20

PRAYER: May we learn to react like Jesus in both the good and the bad moments in our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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