Tag Archives: Self-Righteousness

Seeking God’s Light

Ordinary Time

January 12, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 36:5-10
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
   your judgments are like the great deep;
   you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
   All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
   and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light.

O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
   and your salvation to the upright of heart!

The weather in Oklahoma changes often. We can have a high of 80 degrees one day and a high below freezing the next. The wind is rarely still, and cloudy days mix with bright sunny days. I am light sensitive, so I wear regular glasses, often covered with sunglasses. Yesterday, I faced the dilemma of needing to be outside on a freezing day with very bright sunshine. My poor ears did not know what to make of what I thrust on them—glasses stems, sunglass stems, masks loops, and finally earmuffs. My ears hurt from all that weight.

We can carry a lot of weight in our spiritual life that limits our access to God’s light. Nevertheless, the nature of God’s light is not blinding unless, in some circumstances, we shroud ourselves with so much self-righteousness we miss seeing God’s righteousness. Saul had such an experience with God’s light on the road to Damascus*. Saul thought he was doing God’s work, persecuting the Christ-followers. How much work do we do establishing self-righteousness and our justice rather than God’s righteousness and justice?

Prayer:  Lord, free us from the garb of self-righteousness and let your light show us the way to living in your Spirit. Amen.

*See at Acts 9:1-19

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Who Am I?

Epiphany

February 3, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Isaiah 58:1-9

Shout out, do not hold back!
   Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
   to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
   and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
   and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgements,
   they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?
   Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day,
   and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
   and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
   will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
   a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
   and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
   a day acceptable to the Lord? –Isaiah 58:1-5

My book club just read and reviewed Anne Perry’s book, The Face of a Stranger. The book opens with the main character in the hospital recovering from an accident that caused him to lose his memory. He did not know who he was and did not recognize himself in a mirror. It made me wonder if most of us knows ourselves as well as we think. As this man moved through picking up his life without knowing who he was he found himself being rude and wondering, “Is that who I am?” Meeting people he knew before his accident who did not know he had lost his memory, he gaged their responses to him and wondered what kind of man he was. Perhaps more importantly, he wondered what kind of man he was becoming.

In our scripture today Isaiah describes a people, God’s people, who seemed to be substituting self-righteousness for God’s righteousness. Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers. If we looked in the mirror through Christ’s eyes what would we see?

Prayer: Lord, open our eyes to see ourselves as you see us. Forgive us when we seek you out to undergird our self-interest rather than your divine plan. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Salvation is God’s Gift to Everyone

Christmastide

January 1, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 147:12-20

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
   Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
   he blesses your children within you.He grants peace within your borders;
   he fills you with the finest of wheat.He sends out his command to the earth;
   his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool;   he scatters frost like ashes.He hurls down hail like crumbs—
   who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them;
   he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob,
   his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
   they do not know his ordinances.
Praise the Lord!


The following words caught my attention as I read the above scripture:
He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
   they do not know his ordinances.

My brain added a phrase following this one “with the coming of Immanuel, God opened the door to all nations” but still ended with:
Praise the Lord!

The coming of God with Us is celebrated primarily for the salvation Christ brought to each of us. I think we sometimes forget that Christ came for the salvation of all people and charged those of us who choose to follow him to be the conduits in our world today to make that happen. That last charge is addressed in many ways and has been since the birth of the church. Our humanness sometimes enhances our ability to share the love of God with others and sometimes distracts from introducing people to the ways of Christ. Our humanness sometimes leads us to think we are particularly special in God’s eyes when indeed all God’s children are special in God’s eyes. Jesus did not tell the parable of the lost sheep for no reason.

As we start this new year, this new decade, let us address anew God’s call to share God’s love with everyone.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we are more self-righteous than righteous. Open our eyes to the needs of all your children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Living Faith

Epiphany
January 30, 2017

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 58:1-12

Shout out, do not hold back!
   Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
   to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
   and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
   and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgements,
   they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?
   Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day,
   and oppress all your workers. –Isaiah 58:1-3

 

A church sign several years ago read: If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it*. Isaiah seems to be dealing with a community of people who go to extraordinary lengths to practice their religion for all to see but do not keep the faith in their daily walk. We are all guilty of that to a degree.

It is often easier to do things right, but it does not get us what we want thus we do what is wrong. Greed is a major catalyst for taking the wrong path and pride drives us to do some stupid things while procrastination eats precious minutes from life. It is amazing how fascinating my digital tablet becomes when I don’t want to do what I need to do. The real harm comes when these patterns of behavior become our norms and grow exponentially taking over our whole beings. The folks Isaiah address in our scripture today seem to be suffering the consequences of such distractions. They wear the right clothing, show up for services on time, and flaunt their self-righteousness while overworking or underpaying their staff.

Chet Cadieux, a co-founder of Quick Trip Corporation died last year. He was a very respected businessman and a Christian. He paid his staff, not the minimum wage, but a living wage. Said it resulted in retention of quality people. Such action is not the norm among his competition, yet he succeeded while living his faith.

Prayer: Lord, give us the courage to see the areas in our lives where we may be on the wrong path, guide us back to your way, and open our lives to the wonders of living in our faith. Amen.

*I later found it attributed to Paul Harvey

All scriptures are from the new Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

 

Righteousness or Self-Righteousness

seflrighteousvschristlikeAdvent
December 3, 2016

Scripture Reading: Matthew 3:1-12

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. –Matthew 3:7-10

What is the distinction between righteousness and self-righteousness? The first is inclusive the second is exclusive. Righteousness deals with justice which assumes a community accommodating both diversity and similarity. Self-righteousness builds walls keeping community out unless it feeds the individual’s desires. The gospels tell a story of religious leaders caught up in fulfilling individual desires to the detriment of the people they shepherded. John the Baptist confronts the leaders asserting that they are not reflecting the ways of their ancestor Abraham but were defining what is right for all by what was right for themselves.

I have a friend who seems to have perfect pitch. He can sing any note, and it will match the sound of the same note played on a well-tuned piano. I do not have this gift. I work at matching the notes I hear. His is a natural gift; for me singing the correct note takes lots of practice and focused listening. For some justice and righteousness comes naturally. For most of the rest of us, we must practice it every day, holding our concepts of righteousness next to Christ’s and adjusting our justice to match his. To do that, we must possess a good understanding of God’s justice and righteousness. Bible study is a key element in broadening understand of God’s justice, and we must accompany Bible study with total surrender to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Anyone can flip through the Bible, find a verse or two that supports their viewpoint, and declare it God’s justice. Why do you think John was calling those Pharisees and Sadducees to task?

During this Advent season as we examine ourselves, let us explore what is righteous about our lives and what may be self-righteous. Let the Holy Spirit help us ferret out the truth.

Prayer: Lord, make us whole so that we do not try to fill the gaps in our self-concepts with our own creation of righteousness. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Loving Across Cultures

LoveThyNeighborAsThyselfLiving in the Spirit
July 8, 2015

Scripture Reading: Psalm 24

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
   And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
   who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
   and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the Lord,
   and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
   who seek the face of the God of Jacob. –Psalm 24:3-6

I have been struck recently by how much I am more a creator of the culture around me than I am of the Kingdom of God. This reality appears most often in an ingrained sense of entitlement that I take for granted as a white, middle class citizen of the United States. I mistake clean hands for obeying the letter of the law and a pure heart for my dedication to liberal agendas of society. I recycle when it is convenient for me, buy free trade coffee, probably as much because it taste better than it is the right thing to do. But I pay little attention to where my clothing was made or whether a child working 16 hour-days made them.

Self-righteousness comes in many forms and is insidious. We in the US practice it from all sides, liberal and conservation. Somehow we think our worth is established by our measuring one against the other as if God loves one more and one less because of what we believe. I cannot find that in the Bible anywhere. God’s love is unconditional and more importantly universal. The plumb line of righteousness is our love for God and one another.

There is nothing innately wrong with culture. Society is dependent on norms being established to make the flow of life less complicated. What is crucial is understanding the beauty of the many cultures across our earth and being attentive to those things within our culture, which are detrimental to our ability to love one another across cultures as God love us.

Prayer: Lord, make me aware of how my way of being impacts the way of being of others and when those impacts are detrimental to my loving the other, enable me to love like you do. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

God’s Agent Not My Own

Self-righteousnessEastertide April 9, 2015

Scripture Reading: 1 John 1-2:2 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. –1 John 1:5-10

I attended a meeting of an advocacy group last night whose membership includes about half and half people from faith communities and people who are not. It is interesting these days to walk that fine line as a member of a faith community with God’s children who are not members. It has probably been true throughout history that we who call ourselves Christian have done a great deal of harm to God’s children who are not Christian by inflicting on them something less than what Christ was all about. It is true at this time in history. For example, I see this when our attitudes are shaped by a belief that we are exceptional. At the meeting a fellow Christian raised a concern that had been expressed by someone in attendance that we prayed too much. They felt uncomfortable thinking they had been pulled into some kind of religious service.

Now it is easy to say we have all sinned and that we must confess our sins but is what we are confessing really the things that are separating us from God, particularly as we serve as God’s messenger to others? So much of what we do is habit. I, personally, have difficulty not ending a prayer with “in the name of Jesus.” When praying publically in an interfaith setting, I have tried to leave it out and been successful at time but not always. I have also attempted to make it a singular statement, “I pray in the name of Jesus.”

Now I must confess my first visceral reaction to the comment about too much prayer was to think, “They expect me to respect their right to not believe, why cannot they be tolerant of people of faith?” If this were an argument about church and state, I might cry freedom of religion. If it is a discussion about loving God and loving my neighbor as myself, I need to accept the others in my life exactly where they are and let my love and actions speak louder than any prayer I might pray. I think I understand a bit more about what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 9:22: To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some.

Prayer: Lord, help me see myself in the eyes of the others in my life, particularly those who are not people of faith. Cleanse me of habit or stubborn righteousness or whatever else might be inhibiting my serving as your agent. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God’s Judgment

Paul writing to the churchesEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
January 23, 2015

 Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

 While I was writing my book Houses Divided, I was struck by the possibility that the full realization of the coming of the Kingdom of God may be awaiting our capacity for loving God and loving each other to the extent we would be able to experience God “dwelling”* among us all the time. The irony of such an idea is that while we are waiting for God to fix the world we now live in, God has already saved us. God has given us the gift of God’s love in human form. Our task is to love like Jesus loves God and his neighbors, and in so doing transform the world. He also challenged us to make everyone in the world our neighbor. Paul puts it precisely: For the present form of this world is passing away. We humans just keep reaching back and trying to drag some of that former world with us.

We seem to be caught up in our human need to compete. Even to compete for God’s salvation. Now, I like a good basketball game as much as anyone, football too, but I do not move up on God’s rating chart by trying to be more righteous or more zealous or more anything than any of God’s other children or by assigning greater judgment magnitude to what I deem to be the sins of others while being blind to my own. God does not have a comparative rating chart. God’s judgment, as I understand it, is not based on who of us has the corner on “right” beliefs or are more self-righteous.  God’s judgment is based on how we have loved. Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? (Matthew 25:37+)

Prayer: Lord open my heart to the infusion of your love. Wash away all the barriers I raise to loving as you love. Free me from my need to judge myself by any standard other than the one you have established for me and free me from my need to judge others. Amen.

*See John 1:14 and Revelation 21:3

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.