Part 5 Self - Righteousness

The most difficult part of this 'self' examination is now before me.

The problem with being self-righteous is that it is very difficult to see it in yourself, or at least I do. We have a tendency to judge ourselves by the standards of others around us.

Usually we are 'calibrated', to what we believe to be an acceptable moral standard, through our family upbringing. We have the influence of societies standards, usually taught in a school and / or work environment, developed as we interact with others from outside our families.

I have a personal belief, that more and more in what passes for acceptable moral standards, comes from the 'eye' that sits in the corner of most living rooms. Yes! the television that beams the daily 'soaps', the daily doses of so called reality television , all pumping out 'dross' that is called entertainment. The subtle message is repeated over and over again, always the same, over and over.

"This is the age of enlightenment, everyone has the right to do what they want to do. There is no absolute right or wrong!".

For a Christian (especially in the UK) to say that they believe that many of the topics being promoted in these programmes are a sin in the sight of God, leads to these Christians being labelled as 'Narrow Minded' and 'Bigoted'. There is no room for the concept that God's standards are not the standards of the world.

So what is my difficulty with self-righteousness? It comes down to 'judgement' not in terms of decision making but judgement of myself against others. I find it very easy to judge others, in an interview situation, I have found myself making a judgement on a prospective candidate, just as they entered the room, before they had a chance to speak a word.

But what about some introspection, some detailed self examination? Well! that is a different matter.

As I said in a previous post a few days ago. "I like me". So I do find it difficult to be critical of my actions, and even my motives for taking those actions. Many times I have found myself in the role of a Pharisee saying "I thank you Lord that I am not like those other people". Remember the line from the song "Oh! Lord it's hard to be humble when you are perfect in every way"should be playing in the background when those thoughts come to mind. (However: The next line in the same song I can easily reject as not being attributable to myself).

Ever find it difficult to think of a 'small size','medium size', 'big size' sin to confess to the Lord? We rank everything. It is as if we have an internal scale of justice that we use to measure our actions and other's actions against.

Other people's actions / motives on one side, and our actions / motives on the other side of the scale. My scales are not evenly balanced, I am very lenient when I judge my actions / motives, and I can usually come up with a justification or some mitigating circumstance that attempts to cover my tracks.

But I am reminded that the Eyes of the Lord can see through my deception.

It is only when I judge myself against God's perfect standards that I can see the gap in real performance. When I fall short of his perfect standard, I sin.

Isaiah 64:6 'But we are like an unclean thing, And all our righteousness's are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away'.

God's appearance is so intense that it is like an all consuming fire that burns everything in it's path. No man can see God and live in his fallen state. If we are so impure how can we be saved? Only by God's mercy. He forgives us based upon the work of our Lord and his death upon the cross.

1Peter 2:24 'Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes we are healed'.

Lord help me live not in my own righteousness but remember that it was you who bore my sins and iniquities so that I might live. A sinner saved by grace.

Finally .......... a thought for to-day

Calvary's cross is the ONLY bridge to eternal life