By Robin Sam
ANY Christian who bears his own cross will know that God expects him not to be self-righteous. The problem with self-righteousness is that it puts oneself on a pedestal while looking down upon others. And no one who puts himself on a pedestal can expect his prayers to be heard, because he himself becomes an idol – sort of. To explain this, Jesus Christ told His disciples a parable in Luke 18:9-14. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is known to all of us, so I am not expanding on that. The self-righteous Pharisee went home with no visible change within himself while the tax collector who was penitent was pardoned and justified by God. Jesus summed up the parable saying “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The prophet who heard from God on this topic put it best in Isaiah 64:6: “All our righteousness are like filthy rags.”
Like self-righteousness, we need to stay clear of self-sufficiency also. What is self-sufficiency? It is a state of mind where we think we have made it. No Christian’s life is complete till he reaches the eternal shores. Our achievements, however significant they maybe, should not make us think that we have attained them by our own efforts. While talking to the church in Corinth, Paul underlined this point. A true child of God does not need commendation letters from anyone. That was not an arrogant statement for he clarified in 2 Corinthians 3:5: “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.” The self-sufficient rich man mentioned in Luke 12:16-21 does not have a name, but God gave him one. He called him a ‘fool.’ In John 15:5 Jesus tells why our sufficiency is from God. He said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
The Bible teaches us that self-indulgence is also not a right attitude. One of the reasons why Jesus chided the scribes and Pharisees of His time was that they were greedy and self-indulgent (Matthew 23:25). They are the two sides of a diabolical face – and both are detestable. A soul that is committed to loving and serving its Redeemer will always look for ways to please the Master—not itself. In contrast, a self-indulgent person is a walking dead body as far as God is concerned. Don’t think I am making this up, that’s what the Bible says. While giving out instructions for the church in 1Timothy 5, Paul had this to say about a self-indulgent woman: “…she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives” (verse 6).
Eternal life is promised to those “who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil” warns Paul in Romans 2:7-9. I want you to look at the build-up of the words: Those who are self-seeking are also likely to be disobedient to the truth and followers of unrighteousness. So, what is the truth? Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” God is not expecting all of us to be theologians. However, He wants us to realize this one truth: That Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. Those who have realized and accepted this truth will follow the rite of passage prescribed to believers in Matthew 16:24. “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Following Jesus means denying one’s own self. That’s emptying ourselves of our selfish ambitions, egos, secret agendas and saying no to pride, flesh, lust of the eye and the cares of the world. It is not reciprocating when you feel cheated, slighted, sidelined or humiliated. It is not a one-time affair but a daily exercise. We are expected to practice it daily and nightly; day in and day out. Until we start reflecting Jesus in our lives so much so that heaven rejoices in calling us home.
I want to leave you with one of the best definitions of what it means to deny one’s self. No one knows who wrote these beautiful lines. Whoever it is, perhaps, he thought remaining anonymous is also a way of denying his self.
When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught, and you sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ — that is dying to self.
When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence — that is dying to self.
When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or any annoyance, when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus endured it — that is dying to self.
When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any attitude, any interruption by the will of God — that is dying to self.
When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works, or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown — that is dying to self.
When you see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances — that is dying to self.
When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself, can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart — that is dying to self.
