Fooling Ourselves 3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5 for each one should carry his own load. When you hear statements like, “I’m better than that,” or “I can’t believe you fell for something like that,” that person is due for a downfall. Pride in your abilities, stature, or accomplishments by comparing yourself to another is selfish and a sin that the Lord abhors (Proverbs 6:16). You make yourself look good by making others look bad. Pride seeks to separate people by creating a hierarchy of personalities, putting others down, and highlighting what’s wrong with them. This is why the Apostle Paul addressed the issue in church due to some people not wanting to associate themselves with a fallen brother. These were the Judaizers who were false teachers that infiltrated the church. Instead of trying to help the erring brother (vv. 1-2), they preferred to make themselves look good by saying, “I wouldn’t be caught doing that.” They feel more accomplished spiritually whenever someone sinned and highlighting it to show their “maturity in the faith”. Paul would have none of that by saying that “you’re deceiving yourself if you think you’re someone special.” Paul qualifies his statement by saying that pride is wrong but there is a good kind of pride which is called pride in yourself or pride in your own accomplishments. It’s the healthy kind of pride that happens whenever you do something great and you feel good about what you’ve achieved. It’s the same pride that the Lord had in creation when He looked at his work after each day and saw that it was good. You can almost see the Lord grinning in pride at the work of His hands. In fact, at the end of the sixth day He saw that it wasn’t just good, it was very good. So when you feel good about yourself or any of your accomplishments, it’s not a sin. It’s a natural feeling of pleasure because you did a great job. It’s a God-given feeling that He felt Himself which He allowed us to have because we were made in His image. As long as you don’t feel good about your working because other people’s work are inferior to yours then you have not sinned. God wants your work to be satisfying to you more than to anyone else. It’s why Paul says in verse 5, “for each one should carry his own load.” It means we should take care of our own responsibilities and not let someone else do it for us. If we do a mediocre job and say that we’re doing good work because someone’s work is worse, you’re deceiving yourself. If you think you’re more spiritual because someone from your church is in sin, you’re deceiving yourself. Instead take pride in your own work for its own sake and stop fooling yourself.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 11:32:25 +0000