For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Romans 12:3
I am one of those people who lacks self confidence. If someone says something is wrong with an issue or project I have worked on, I am immediately convinced that my part in things is were the error lies. I am often self conscious of the areas that I think that I fall short in, which in my mind are all areas.
Now, there are other people who are incredibly self confident and appear to have no doubts about themselves or anything that they touch. They are so self assured.
Neither position is one that a follower of Christ should exhibit.
Jesus addresses the error of self confidence in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector found in Luke 18:9-14 “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner”.
The Pharisee who has studied the scriptures of God his whole life, is so confident of himself and his own righteousness that he judges the heart of himself and the tax collector near by. But Jesus explains that the humble heart of the tax collector will result in his being exalted, but that the self righteous man will be humbled (“14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:14).
We are not the judges of righteousness, God is (“Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.” 1 Samuel 2:3 NIV) and it will bring about punishment, when we feel that we are righteous enough that we do not need God (Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished. Proverbs 16:5)
I know that when we look at the self righteous person, it is easy to think that if the self righteous position is wrong then the person who lacks self confidence must be humble and that is a good thing.
Lacking self confidence does not mean that we are humble.
The Oxford Dictionary says that the definition of humble is “having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance”. That sounds pretty close to how I feel when I am lacking in self confidence. The issue is that the Oxford Dictionary does not put God in His proper place and therefore the definition is incomplete.
Humble in the biblical sense of the word is recognizing how incredible and worthy God is and how unworthy we are, apart from Jesus Christ.
That does not describe my self doubting attitude. In fact, the attitude of those of us who lack self confidence, insults God. When He says that we were created in His image and we think that we are deficient, we call Him a liar (So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them Genesis 1:27).
When God says that we can do all things through Christ (all things that He is calling us to) and we doubt Him (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me Philippians 4:13), we call Him a liar.
When He says that we (through the blood of Jesus) are who He is sending to represent Him in the earth and we doubt that (Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20) , we call Him a liar.
It is a humble heart that recognizes the magnitude and penalty of the sin that we have committed. A humble heart repents and a humble heart makes Christ Lord of their lives. (Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. Psalm 25:8-9)
And it is the humble heart that never forgets the sin and depravity that once enslaved us, nor does it forget Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that rescued us from that bondage. When the humble heart remembers, in gratitude, it longs to serve, glorify and honor a Heavenly Father who would love that deeply, such an undeserved soul.
And, a humble heart will trust and believe what the Father in Heaven says. When God, in His word says that we (those who are followers of Jesus) are (through the blood of Christ) worthy, that we are capable, that we are strong, that we are loved and that we are His, those are promises from our creator and God, who cannot lie (“In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” Titus 1:2).
If God says we are worthy, capable, strong, loved and redeemed. Who are we to question the God of all creation (But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this”. Romans 9:20).
I pray that, for those of us who have a self righteous heart, would repent and pray that God would allow us to see ourselves in truth. I pray that we would compare ourselves to the perfect Son of God, whom we cannot compare with and will always fall short of and I pray that He would forgive our self righteousness. I pray that, for those of us who lack self esteem, we would stop robbing God of glory. I pray that we would have hearts of humility that recognize how incredibly and purposefully we were each created. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10. And I pray that we would live out these earthly lives with power and purpose, serving our Heavenly Father and honoring and glorifying His Son (the one who is worthy) Jesus Christ.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and you lack self esteem or struggle with self righteousness, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Comparing ourselves to Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, will give us a right perspective of ourselves. Our Heavenly Father loves you. He longs to forgive you and rescue you from the bondage of your sin and past and to give you an abundant life. Please pray, and when you do please reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com so that I can be in prayer for you.
Luv Ya!
