Self-righteousness; it's everywhere
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise.. (Psalm 51:17).
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: God I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:10-14).
Self-righteousness is the conviction that one is better than others--morally, spiritually, and theologically. It is the spurious view that one is not like other people. Self-righteous people always think they speak as outsiders of the human race.
Five facts you need to know about self-righteousness: (1) It's subtle; you don't know it when you've got it. (2) It's incremental; It never starts out as self-righteousness but as something positive and good. (3) It's addictive; people love to point a critical finger at the mistakes of others, and brag about themselves. (4) It's indiscriminate; once you see it, it's everywhere and not just in religious folks. And (5) It's terribly destructive.
Note! The tax collector did not think of himself as one sinner among many, but as the sinner who was unworthy of anything from God. Jesus said the tax collector went home justified. That means he received forgiveness, and redemption. May I say, the Lord Jesus reminds us in this parable, that it is a spirit of repentance, and self-humiliation, not a critical or judgmental spirit that is acceptable to God.
Have you ever wondered child of God, why most of our evangelistic efforts are ineffective? Could it be that un-believers see us as angry, condemning, uptight, judgmental, self-righteous twits. I believe that the reasons we can't forgive and why they are divisions among us, is because of the sin of self-righteousness. And this after God tells us in His Word; there is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10) and that all our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
Self-righteousness destroys relationships, and makes genuine love impossible. It makes it impossible to love those who aren't Christians and impossible to love those who are. God will forgive and restore the believer who has been over taken by a judgmental spirit. If that believer will acknowledge his sin and ask the Lord for the grace to repent. O thank God for His all sufficient grace.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you. Amen.
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: God I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:10-14).
Self-righteousness is the conviction that one is better than others--morally, spiritually, and theologically. It is the spurious view that one is not like other people. Self-righteous people always think they speak as outsiders of the human race.
Five facts you need to know about self-righteousness: (1) It's subtle; you don't know it when you've got it. (2) It's incremental; It never starts out as self-righteousness but as something positive and good. (3) It's addictive; people love to point a critical finger at the mistakes of others, and brag about themselves. (4) It's indiscriminate; once you see it, it's everywhere and not just in religious folks. And (5) It's terribly destructive.
Note! The tax collector did not think of himself as one sinner among many, but as the sinner who was unworthy of anything from God. Jesus said the tax collector went home justified. That means he received forgiveness, and redemption. May I say, the Lord Jesus reminds us in this parable, that it is a spirit of repentance, and self-humiliation, not a critical or judgmental spirit that is acceptable to God.
Have you ever wondered child of God, why most of our evangelistic efforts are ineffective? Could it be that un-believers see us as angry, condemning, uptight, judgmental, self-righteous twits. I believe that the reasons we can't forgive and why they are divisions among us, is because of the sin of self-righteousness. And this after God tells us in His Word; there is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10) and that all our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
Self-righteousness destroys relationships, and makes genuine love impossible. It makes it impossible to love those who aren't Christians and impossible to love those who are. God will forgive and restore the believer who has been over taken by a judgmental spirit. If that believer will acknowledge his sin and ask the Lord for the grace to repent. O thank God for His all sufficient grace.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you. Amen.
posted by Mel | 10:49 AM
<< Home