Skip to main content

Flattering Ourselves

         I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful; they fail to act wisely or do good. Even on their beds they plot evil; they commit themselves to a sinful course and do not reject what is wrong. (Psalm 36:1-4) 

Quite often, the bad guys on TV fit the description above. Even if they profess the Name, there is no fear of God before their eyes. They think they are God or are so close to Him that they speak for Him, no matter how vile they act. It’s s trope, a stereotype, a cliché and, generally speaking, we either smile at their ridiculousness or cringe at their utter depravity, but it’s spectacular in its scope.

In C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, one of the things Uncle Screwtape tells his protégé, Wormwood is that the size of the sin doesn’t matter. What matters is separating the “patient” (person) from the “Enemy” (God.) Murder, or serial murder, might be spectacular, but if cards will do the job, it’s best to create that break. After all, more interesting temptations can follow.

With this in mind, this passage needs more consideration for those of us who are not master criminals. One of the comments Dallas Willard makes in Renovation of the Heart is that if we could see what we are really like, it would probably destroy us. It’s similar to Joshua being told that the Promised Land would not be given to the Israelites all at once, because they couldn’t handle it. Instead, they would take it as they were capable.

In the same way, we flatter ourselves in our own eyes too much to detect or hate our sins. Even when we say we do, we don’t go to war with them like Joshua and the Israelites did the five nations – and they didn’t go to war with the five nations the way they should have. Something we should pray about?

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

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more