A Jot from John
Whether it be a weapon of iron, gunpowder, poison gas, the nuclear bomb, the intercontinental missile, or a death ray, the thought of a secret weapon in the hands of an enemy has always brought fear to the hearts of man. Additional alarm occurs because the unknown nature of the weapon makes preparing a proper defense difficult.
Satan also utilizes weapons or tactics of this sort. If not truly secret, they are insidious, subtle and quiet. He sometimes uses these “weapons” against God’s faithful. Too frequently, he uses these methods effectively.
The evil one uses some of his most cunning weapons against the faithful Christian, the dedicated Bible school teacher, the active deacon, the devoted elder, and the consecrated evangelist. Satan is wise; he selects temptations that may be successful. He does not waste ammunition.
A weapon he chooses frequently is self-righteousness. “Not I, I am humble,” we claim. Yet our proclamation of humility can sometimes become the very antithesis of what we claim. Many of us will recall that the most humble persons we have known never mentioned their wonderful quality.
Our Lord’s timeless account in Luke 18 of the Pharisee and publican in the temple may have a more personal application in our lives than we would like to believe.
The clean, honest, generous, sacrificing Pharisee failed to be justified. There was much good in his life. His problem was not that he was too righteous. His difficulty was that he thought too highly of his own goodness. Jesus did not indicate that we should emulate the sin of the publican’s life, but rather his humility, penitence and dependence on the mercy of God. The Pharisee’ self-righteousness stood between his good deeds and God’s approval.
Self-righteousness is usually more easily detected by those around us than by us, and even our closest friends are hesitant to mention it to us. The deceptive nature of this sin makes difficult its detection.
Paul spoke of the lack of wisdom of some who commended themselves and measured themselves by themselves (2 Cor. 10:12). Are we guilty of a similar sin by making ourselves the standard? Do we compare others with ourselves rather than with our Lord and God’s Word? Mankind deserves to be measured by a perfect standard. Therefore, let us be on guard against Satan’s secret weapon. We may be closer to its range than we would like to think!
Onward Rejoicing, John B. Daniels, Associate Minister
