Spiritual smugness

Spiritual smugness is a nuisance.

Sometimes, when I am around some “Holier-Than-Thou” Christian I think of the anecdote about the old Quaker’s wife who asked him who was going to make it to Heaven and he responded with:

“Well, me thinkest that shall be thee and me, and sometimes me wonders about thee.”

Aren’t you thankful that your salvation does not depend on someone else’s opinion?

Jesus prayed, “Father, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth.” [John 17:17] So, very clearly, opinion unless it is based on God’s word is absolutely baseless because a foundation built on opinion with what Paul calls wood, hay, and straw will not stand the test of time or the fiery judgment of God. [1 Cor. 3:12-13]

Consequently, it really does not matter one iota what some super enlighten spiritual umpire says, unless our lives have been established in the truth of God’s word we toil in vain. Let us not forget, therefore, that someone else’s opinion is just that unless it is established in the truth of God’s word.

So, why do we labor so furiously to please and try to live up to another man’s standard?

However, before you answer that consider how The Message translates 1 Thessalonians 5:21. Here’s what it says,

“. . . Don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what's good.”

And what is the test of whether or not something is good and therefore truthful? Over and over again both Jesus and the Scriptures tell us that God’s word is truth. So, holiness or true spirituality must be verified or attested to by God’s word.

Thus, we can say without hesitation or fear of contradiction that unless God has said it then we are not obligated to practice it. True, some say, but what about those gray areas of Scripture, those that really don’t make it clear whether we should do this or do that?

I will answer that with a quote from St. Augustine, who once said,

“The greatest heresy is the lack of charity.”

So, once again as Paul reminds us let us,

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that we do be done in love. (1 Corinthians 16: 13-14)

With that in mind, we do well to recall an old refrain repeated by Negro slaves during the Civil War that says,

Sticks and stones will break my bones

But words will never harm me.[i]

Just keep in mind, it really doesn’t matter what someone else thinks of you as long as whatever you do is in love because in the final analysis God is the judge not they.

I am yours for the journey,

Jim R/~

P.S. Please continue to pray for and support our ministry in the former Soviet Union and in Southern Asia.

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[i] Christian Recorder of March 1862, a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.