“It’s alright. I know.”
That statement is said, there’s a sage nodding of the head and there’s a distinct smug expression. What helps that expression with that statement is the backing to suggest that you do know. No one else knows better. You do. And let’s face it, you know and you’ve got good taste as well, so you’re unlikely to come to a wrong conclusion on matters. You know.
And with that, self-delusion kicks in to cruise control as the foolish capacity of being wise in our own eyes drives us down to the valley of stupidity and worse.
This attitude goes against a clear instruction given by Paul when highlighting characteristics of the Christian community:
Never be wise in your own sight.
Romans 12:16
The history of God’s people, Israel, featured a time where the people just did whatever they felt was right in their own sight. It was the time before they were given a king. The problem with such a situation is that what is right in your own sight, may not be right. With that capacity for self-delusion it doesn’t take long for you to justify your actions and behaviours that might appear wrong to others and then when you’re treated the same way you can kick up a fuss about how wrong it is. You are the arbiter. You are the one to determine right from wrong. It’s all on you as though you don’t need to submit to any other authority on the matter.
It might sound silly and a little unstable when put like that, but think about the degree to which it’s seen as a virtue to do what is right in your own eyes in this day. It is a prevalent philosophy of certain cultures to get to that place where you do what is right in your own sight. Where you can develop that degree of self-justification and self-determination all in the name of virtues like liberty, independence and the autonomy of the individual which should never be challenged.
Whilst no one is removing that ability to choose, one of the first choices to be made can determine a path to life from a path to death. That choice is the answer to this question: who/what will be the source of wisdom? What will be the foundation of right and wrong?
For those who have expereinced the light of the love of Jesus, we no longer have that right to pursue what is right in our own sight. Indeed that light of the love of the Lord illuminates what God says on that matter:
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
Isaiah 5:21
and clever in their own sight.
It’s that same idea of doing what’s right in your own eyes that is the expression of pride. Pride that stems in you as the centre of all that matters. God resists those types of people and inspired His writers to point out what kind of people express that behaviour:
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
Proverbs 12:15
Earlier in his letter to the church in Rome, Paul described the decaying and corrupted state of the human condition in its rebellion of thier Creator.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
Romans 1:21-22
There it is again, that sense of being the source of what’s right and onlyin your own sight and the key to that is a rejection of God.
Yet God offers the healthy alternative to doing what’s right in your own eyes.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
Proverbs 3:7
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
Turning from evil, living in the light of what’s right, is not sourced in me, it’s sourced in looking to God. Acknowledging Him for who He is in splendour and awesome power. Revering Him as He reveals Himself in His Word, in His Son and by His Spirit. The focus is not on who I am and what I might say on the matter and whatever my opinion is worth. The focus is on the Creator and Ruler of the Universe who truly is the source for what is right and wrong.
This view means we don’t look on anyone else as inferior to ourselves. This view means that we rightly treat anyone else as one created in the image of God, worthy of respect and honour. That is applicable as much to one who is impoverished as it does with one who is materially enriched. This view also puts me in a proper perspective. I’m not a worm of no worth who should be eliminated. I’m not the greatest who deserves nothing but the very best because I’m so awesome. I am a child of God, part of the family of God called to express the character of God in the hope that the good news of the rule of God can be a blessing to others and draw them to Him.
That perspective leaves no room for egocentric behaviour. That perspective means there’s no time for being smug as though we know. That perspective exposes ‘doing what’s right in my own sight’ for the self-delusion it is. It is not something just for the individual experience. It’s a quality of a community humbled by the wonder of God to serve people. It is a quality of a family who operate without a judgemental attitude and self-righteous pomposity. It is a quality of a redeemed people who know they represent a loving, forgiving, merciful and kind Lord.
This is a mark of a true Christian in true Christian community.
(This blog series was inspired by the Christian meditation on The Marks of a True Christian from the Encounter podcast.)
(Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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