Your Self-Righteousness Sickens Me! (1 of 17)
At times I feel like society is a few sins away from becoming a modern version of Sodom and Gomorrah, if we’re not already. I mean, just watch the news. As a nation we have legalized the murder of innocent babies, states are slowly giving into the demand of the homosexual community and destroying the sanctity of marriage, teens are SEXTING (don’t ask), the internet has become the perversion PORN highway of the world, our economy is self destructing right before our eyes because of our greed, etc. etc. etc… What saddens me most is that my sentiments are not describing the actions of the folks that DO NOT know Christ, but the very people that make up the BODY of CHRIST.
Christians are compromising left and right for whatever reason… while, on the other hand some of us are so SELF-RIGHTEOUS that we miss the very PLANK in our own eyes… and yes, the folks watching us are actually measuring that plank….
Yeah, go ahead throw your stones…. Do it, I say it with every bit of self-righteousness in me….
I do have a point, I promise.
I just started reading “The Pursuit of Holiness” by Jerry Bridges… great read so far. My goal is to add a blog entry after every chapter that I read, let’s is if “busyness” or procrastination gets the best of…. actually, you guys can help by keeping me accountable….
Many define holiness by their self-righteousness… and man, does that irk me! For others it’s defined by how we dress and our mannerisms. And yet for others it’s defined by mere perfection, that’s unattainable and really discourages in their pursuit of living in holiness.
There are some truths in each but Jerry Bridges really makes the point, he notes: “To be holy is to be morally blameless.” Ooucchhh…. That totally disqualifies me! He continues, “It is to be separated from sin and, therefore, consecrated to God.” He defines holy as “separation to God, and the conduct befitting those so separated.”
Jerry then gives us some examples:
Paul described holiness in contrast to a life of immorality and impurity (Thessalonians 4:3-7), hmmmm…. Peter in contrast to living according to the evil desires we had before knowing Christ (1 Peter 1:14-6), hmmmm…. John’s contrast those doing wrong and vile things (Rev. 22:11).
Ephesians 4:22, 24 probably paints the best picture of what it means to live a holy life: “It is to live a life characterized by the “[putting] off of your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires… and [putting] on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
But what is TRUE righteousness?
Jerry Bridges notes that holy living is “to live a life in conformity to the moral precepts of the Bible and in contrast to the sinful ways of the world.” …I say that’s righteousness.
So it’s not your values or what you define as ethical or your self-righteousness which is all influenced and corrupted by culture but OBEDIENCE in what God commandeth…
Mind you, the mess we are in today started with a bite…
I challenge you all to examine your values, your self-righteousness… are resembling the world too much? …are your values self-full filling? …Or are you truely in pursuit of HIS holiness? …are you living in obedience?
Grace & Peace
