Sunday, February 23, 2014
In our own eyes we fear ourselves
It's been a while since I have posted anything here. I get on a blogging kick for a while and then stop. Hopefully this is a good start.
Today I was taken to Psalm 36. This Psalm is known for vs 5-6.
"Your love oh God reaches to the heavens. Your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains. Your justice like the great deep."
But I was struck by verses 1-2.
"An Oracle is written within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked.
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin."
This is an interesting observation about how we view ourselves. As Christians I have always found a danger in self deprecation. We not only humble ourselves, we devalue ourselves because pride is sinful. But here is the example of what we must not do.
God wants us to know that his love for us is great, beyond measure. We are worth everything to him. But we must not become so full of self value or pride that we cannot see our faults, or God.
Christians tend to have a lot of fear, which dictates a lot of what they/we do. It's a fear of God that is put into us when we are young. God will smite us like our parents punish us. And of course we all fear Hell and damnation for sin because it is driven into us lesson after lesson after lesson. Being prideful is sin. So we look to verses like this to create an image of where pride leads us. If we think much of ourselves we will become THIS GUY.
But the truth is we are only this guy if we can't see our faults. If we think we are perfect or don't need God. Which as we read scripture is a common reason for death and Hell.
God loves us with a great love, so great it would fill the sky. If He loves us that much, it only makes sense we should love ourselves enough to overcome our fears.
It's been a while since I have posted anything here. I get on a blogging kick for a while and then stop. Hopefully this is a good start.
Today I was taken to Psalm 36. This Psalm is known for vs 5-6.
"Your love oh God reaches to the heavens. Your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains. Your justice like the great deep."
But I was struck by verses 1-2.
"An Oracle is written within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked.
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin."
This is an interesting observation about how we view ourselves. As Christians I have always found a danger in self deprecation. We not only humble ourselves, we devalue ourselves because pride is sinful. But here is the example of what we must not do.
God wants us to know that his love for us is great, beyond measure. We are worth everything to him. But we must not become so full of self value or pride that we cannot see our faults, or God.
Christians tend to have a lot of fear, which dictates a lot of what they/we do. It's a fear of God that is put into us when we are young. God will smite us like our parents punish us. And of course we all fear Hell and damnation for sin because it is driven into us lesson after lesson after lesson. Being prideful is sin. So we look to verses like this to create an image of where pride leads us. If we think much of ourselves we will become THIS GUY.
But the truth is we are only this guy if we can't see our faults. If we think we are perfect or don't need God. Which as we read scripture is a common reason for death and Hell.
God loves us with a great love, so great it would fill the sky. If He loves us that much, it only makes sense we should love ourselves enough to overcome our fears.
