Egotism

 

 

Egotism is expressed by many associated terms: self-righteousness, self-promotion, narcissism, pride, arrogance, conceit, and even self-deception. In any case, it is about trying to prove ourselves superior, both to ourself and to others. Many studies have clearly pointed out the universality of this tendency. One study found that 98% claimed the they are morally superior to others.

Why are we so egotistical? The Bible reveals that we are subliminally aware that there is something radically wrong with us, which needs to be addressed lest we succumb to crippling feelings of guilt and shame. The accusations from our conscience are so powerful that they continue to accuse us of wrongdoing:

·       Romans 2:15 (NLT) They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.

Since God’s laws are written into our DNA, unless we find His mercy, we will continue to experience inner turmoil. Therefore, we resort to self-justifications:

·       Proverbs 21:2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.

We suppress the truth about ourselves and cannot tolerate exposure by the One who judges us:

·       Romans 1:18–20 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and eat the forbidden fruit. Once sin entered, it took control. They could no longer tolerate the presence of God and hid from Him. Nor would they confess their sin once God gave them a chance. Instead, they covered their shame with fig leaves, half-truths, and blame-shifting. When God pronounced His verdict upon them and cast them out of the Garden, they seemed relieved. Adam was in denial and named his wife Eve (life), even though their God and Creator had just condemned them to eventual death.

We have been running from God and His terrifying and revealing light ever since, covering ourselves with the fig leaves of money, power, attainments, and sexual conquests, whatever might make us feel self-righteous and entitled, while our conscience has been declaring the opposite. In view of this, Christ pronounced His condemnation upon humanity:

·       John 3:19–20 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

We are condemned by what we love—the darkness of self-deception—and we know it:

·       Romans 1:32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

We either try to cover this awareness over with the fig leaves of self-righteousness or shake a defiant fist at heaven. Some will even maim themselves to experience a brief reprieve from the punishment they know they deserve.

The Remedy

We suffer from alienation from the Creator and need to be reconciled with Him. None of us can be good enough to earn anything good from Him but death. Our only hope is in His undeserved mercy. What then does He want from us?

·       1 John 1:8–9 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We just need to be real with God and acknowledge our sins, trusting in His mercy through Jesus’ atonement. Solid relationships must all be built on truth:

·       John 8:31–33 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

The self-righteous Israelite leadership were blinded. Their pride had to be broken for the Lord to begin to let light in through their hard shell. Hence, Jesus’ strong denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees!   He had to also break me so that my eyes would see my horrible bondage. However, I could not have endured without the miraculous assurances of His love.

Every day, I am comforted by these assurances. Only in the light of His love can I face myself and even boast in my failures and weaknesses, as He had revealed to Paul amid his disease and God’s unwillingness to heal Paul:

·       2 Corinthians 12:9–10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Consequently, I can now accept my many weaknesses and even laugh at them, because my true identity is in Jesus, where I rest safe and secure.

A JESUS OF OUR OWN MAKING

 

A “Christian” Mystic had written me: “Christ said follow me.... Not follow the book that will be written about me.”

How can we possibly follow Christ without His Biblical instructions! How can two people, let alone a church, find unity without the teachings of the Bible! We cannot. Instead, everyone has his own gnosis without any way to reconcile the differences.
 

Regarding the Scriptures, Jesus had a lot to say, and it’s all positive. In fact, Jesus always quoted the Scriptures in support:

• Matthew 4:4-7 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" ….4:11 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
  

• Matthew 15:3-9 He [Jesus] answered them [the Jewish leadership], “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
  

·       Matthew 5:17-18 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

• Luke 24:25-27 He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
  

• Luke 24:44-45 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures [not Church proclamations].
  

• Matthew 22:29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”
  

• John 5:45-47 "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
  

• Matthew 22:43 He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'?”
  

HE PLACED HIS TEACHING ON THE HIGHEST FOOTING POSSIBLE:

• John 12:49-50 “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
  

• Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words [Not His portraits, icons, or Church councils concerning Him] will not pass away.”
  

• Matthew 22:29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”
  

• John 5:45-47 "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
  

• John 12:49-50 “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
  

• Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words [Not His portraits, icons, or Church councils concerning Him] will not pass away.”
  

You will not find a single verse where Jesus disparages the Scriptures. Therefore, to reject the Scriptures as the word of men and not of God, is to reject the Biblical Jesus in favor of your own Jesus. It is also to ignore the many Scriptural warnings:

Galatians 1:6–9 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed:

The Book and the One who gave it to us are inseparable. To hate the One is to hate the Other.

• John 14:23-24 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”
  

I pray that you will reconsider. Please ask yourself if you have placed your trust in your own understanding rather than in the revelation that comes directly from God!

 

FLEEING TO AN ALTERNATIVE JESUS

 

There are many New Age alternative Jesus-es. You can choose from Jesus as an “energy,” a form of “self-awareness,” or even one of many “spirit-guides.” There are even witches who have made Jesus their spirit-guide.

Spiritual deception is rampant. We don’t seek for truth (I didn’t) but what makes us feel good, and demonic forces know exactly how to provide what we want. It often starts with flattery:

·       And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

We find the truth in Christ, but where? In the Word of Christ, which He promised would never depart:

·       “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”  (Matthew 24:35)

He therefore sent out His Apostles into the world to teach His Words:

·       And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

What did His Words communicate? That He is the ONLY way to be saved:

·       Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

He claimed that to reject Him is to reject salvation in favor of their first love, the darkness of self-deception:

·       “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:17-20)

What terrifies the unbeliever? Exposure to the light of truth! What kills them? Their own choices to flee from the light to another type of salvation!