SMUG, SELF-RIGHTEOUS, SPIRITUAL NUTS

Since August 2015, I have been on a Healthy Lifestyle Journey.  My doctor informed me that I was on a fast track to serious health problems and God convicted me of praying for healing without cooperating with Him as He did the work.  It isn't always easy and I cannot boast that I have conquered my desire for unhealthy food, but day after day and step by step, I am approaching a healthier body as God repairs the damage my lack of discipline has caused.

During this time, I have vowed to not become a SMUG, SELF-RIGHTEOUS, HEALTH FOOD NUT.  We all know the type...they have conquered their eating impulses and are swift to point out all the things you are doing wrong or all the "bad" ingredients in your grocery cart or on your plate.  They brag about the marathons they run or the hours they spend in the gym and can't wait to post their "painful" shopping trips where the size 2 dress just hung on them.  As if  GUILT has ever inspired anyone to lose a pound or eat a plate of broccoli and carrot sticks.

You see, I haven't forgotten the struggle with rollercoaster weight loss or my love affair with chocolate, cookies, and donuts because it is still simmering just below the surface of discipline.  Now if only I can remember the SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE at the times when I find it easy to pray, easy to commit to God's will and easy to be disciplined and say NO to temptation.  There have been too many times when I have forgotten the struggle and God's Grace and Mercy that picked me up when I fell or His arms of love that held me during the storm when I was tempted to "throw in the towel."  It is so easy to become a SMUG, SELF-RIGHTEOUS, SPIRITUAL NUT!

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS is such an ugly word; so ugly that God equates it with "filthy rags."  What makes self-righteousness such an ugly trait?  The prefix "SELF," which puts you in charge of your own righteousness.  It puts you in the place reserved for God.

Luke 18:10-13 Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God I thank you that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"

In Luke, Jesus gives a startling example of self-righteousness.  I'm sure that most of us would never be so bold as to actually pray this prayer, but too often we think it in our heart.  How many times have we looked at the "stranger" bound by sin's chains and thought, "if they would just say NO, they wouldn't have to live in such a mess."  OR at our brothers and sisters who find themselves in recurring situations and said, "Stop making bad choices then expecting God to intervene."  OR even at the dear ones that have not overcome the temptations that you have conquered and with smugness offered your advice to them on increasing their prayer life or more reading of the Word.  As if GUILT has ever inspired anyone to quit sinning or develop a closer relationship with God.  How soon we forget the struggles God has brought us through on the journey to where we are today.  We have become a SMUG, SELF-RIGHTEOUS, SPIRITUAL NUT!

ROMANS 3:1-2 What advantage then has the Jew or what is the profit of circumcision?  Much in every way!  Chiefly because to them were committed the Oracles of God.

God's people have always had to battle SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.  The Jews were not only favored by God as the "Chosen People," but they were also the guardians of the "Oracles of God."  This Covenant with God was not given to set them on a PEDESTAL OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SUPERIORITY but was passed on to many generations because of FAITHFULNESS...the FAITH OF ABRAHAM.  The Covenant carried great RESPONSIBILITY...the Jews were to guard the truth of the Word of God and be a shining example to the rest of the world of God's love and faithfulness.  Instead they became SMUG, SELF-RIGHTEOUS, SPIRITUAL NUTS!  In their self-proclaimed superior status, they not only INTERPRETED the Word of God but DEFINED it in great detail, making it impossible to obey and using God's goodness to condemn everyone who was "not like them."

THE GREATER THE REVELATION, THE GREATER THE TEMPTATION TO BECOME SELF-RIGHTEOUS!

We must never use REVELATION as a tool of CONDEMNATION but as a message to share this GREAT GOSPEL more fully, with a world stumbling in darkness.

The CHURCH has been given a great SALVATION and a great REVELATION; guard your heart.  Don't become a SMUG, SELF-RIGHTEOUS, SPIRITUAL NUT!