Self

Self

St. Augustine prayed, "O Lord, deliver me from the lust of always vindicating myself." There can be no doubt, for we know it from the Bible as well as from experience, that self always wishes to vindicate itself. In the Bible self is called "flesh." We are clearly taught there is only one way to deal with it; it cannot be trained, it cannot be reformed. Its heart is incurable, its mind is hatred. The whole message of Scripture is a general declaration that God will not deal with man apart from the cross of Jesus Christ. It was self that caused the death of our Lord. Yet in that death we may find self's crucifixion, and learn to have the life that flows from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Augustine has undoubtedly put his finger on one of the principal characteristics of the flesh. It wants to defend itself. If we combine this with the fact that it always wishes to exalt itself, we have its true nature. It thinks all good of itself; it thinks no bad of itself. One of the reasons a Christian is left on earth after he is saved is to bring him into the frame of mind that will admit that so far as his relationship to God is concerned, there is no good in the flesh, and that, conversely, there is all evil in the flesh. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders" (Mark 7:21).

Salvation is the admission that we cannot save ourselves and that we are willing, before God, to turn our backs upon self, to despise and reject it, and to turn instead to the Lord Jesus Christ, who formerly was despised and rejected, and to put all of our trust in Him, believing God's verdict about self and Christ.

An English devotional writer said, "Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence." This has nothing to do with our independence towards men, but is concerned with an attitude towards God. The Christian life is meant to teach us that we must be utterly dependent upon our Lord, and that therefore we must be willing to go daily to the funeral of our own independence. This is exactly what Paul meant when he said, "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20) and "I die daily" (1 Cor. 15:31).

1. Does the sinful desire to vindicate oneself stem from another deeper issue of sin? If so, what sin and what does that tell us about sinfulness?
2. Where in scripture do we see people trying to vindicate themselves?
3. Think about these characters attitudes and attributes and compare them to yourself? How often do you work to vindicate yourself?