Skip to main content

Vain Conceits

 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

          Selfish ambition. Vain conceit. These are weapons used against us in our spiritual warfare. But, once again, we need some definitions. Is seeking a better job than the one you have selfish ambition? Is wearing an outfit you like and that you think makes you “sparkle,” even if it doesn’t, vain conceit? These terms are frustrating in their lack of specificity. If you take something that doesn’t belong to you without the permission of the owner, that’s theft. It’s easy to define. If you unlawfully and maliciously take the life of another human being, that’s murder. But is there such a thing as unselfish ambition? Would it be acceptable? I think so, if it’s truly unselfish. Is there conceit that isn’t vain? Would it be acceptable. Since conceit is excessive pride, by definition, I don’t think it’s acceptable, but can we be proud without having vain conceit? Maybe. Maybe not. And where is the line between an acceptable form of ambition or pride, and an unacceptable form?

         I don’t think there is a firm line for everyone. A friend told a story about a friend of hers who was convicted about wearing earrings. It wasn’t that no one should wear earrings, but that the friend-of-a-friend found that wearing them caused her problems. I suspect that selfish ambition and vain conceit are like that. When they become a problem is different for each person. Or, perhaps there is an ultimately line, but for each person, our sensitivity with regard to that line grows over time, so that we move closer to the proper line over time.

          That may not help us much. One of the challenges to selfish ambition and vain conceit is that we don’t even realize we’ve taken that one step too far. So, what sort of line in the sand can we draw? Perhaps a good place to begin is with a check of our motives. Some questions we might ask ourselves:

Am I doing this to prove myself to someone (including God or me?)

Am I doing this because accomplishing it or having it will prove I’m good enough, valuable, or otherwise “there,” having made it.

Will what I am doing harm someone else? Even someone we think deserves it?

          I struggle a lot with “Not Good Enough.” To be what I see as competent is crucial. If only I could … then I would be good enough. Would this not be at least an example of selfish ambition and vain conceit – to seek to achieve “good-enough-ness” in and of ourselves? Especially if we know perfectly well that it’s not possible to be good enough in and of ourselves?

          If this doesn’t answer the question of your selfish ambition or vain conceit, what does? We’ll look at the issue of the interests of others tomorrow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more