Joy Killing Sins: Self-Pity, Self-Exaltation

There’s only one person worse than the success driven, self exalting fool . It is the fool with just as much pride- only for his failures- the self-pitying fool.

Both have unique character traits, although with much in common. The first person tends to think more highly of himself than actually matches up with reality, although often it works in his favor. He is able to achieve a lot via confidence and hard work. However, at work, he is overbearing and impatient. Highly successful or disciplined, he recognizes that time is money, and people are either an asset or an impediment to acquiring mass quantities of both. He certainly does love his wife and children, at least to an extent. The problems arise only when they interfere with a game watching, hobby practicing, health maintaining, comfort-pursuing lifestyle. He tends to be more pleased with his successful kids. Dropped fly balls and bad report cards do not help the family legacy. He has subtle ways, and not so subtle ways to communicate these concerns. His wife and kids are similar to his co-workers/employees- on a certain level he cares about them all, devoting more effort to the ones who have more potential. Keep in mind...he’s not an all bad guy, he is extremely productive and passionate about his profession and sports team. He knows when to say the right things in social settings- and that overall acheivement is not as important as being a good person.  In his mind, he is a good person. It’s really impossible to understand his wife’s discontentment, particularly because he is an excellent provider.

Selfishness Lurking

Unlike self-exalting fool, self pitying fool has a couple extremely useful weapons:  false humility and cynicism.  Frankly, they make him even more sinister than self-exalting fool. At least with self-exalting fool you know what you’re getting into. By all accounts, self pitying fool is modest, nice, and a non -confrontational sort of person.  Yet self pitying fool does not take much of a leadership role at home. He believes his wife is better with that sort of thing. He is emotionally disconnected most of the time, and is constantly capitulating in order to avoid conflict, which frustrates his wife even further. He says things like, “Well it’s just who I am” and “you knew that when you married me.” Dealing with depression from his lack of achievement and other qualities, he attributes much of who he is today to his self exalting fool of a father and never measuring up to Dad. The trouble is, ‘Dad’ is not nearly as bad as this dud of a son makes him out to be. Occasionally self pitying fool is able to view himself as something other than his father’s ‘other son,’ only to fail to measure up to his own standards. You really never know when self pitying fool is going to give up, quit, or not show up. That’s what makes him worse, if only slightly, from self exalting fool. Not only does he have the same discontentment, he doesn’t even get the benefit of all the disciplined, hard work.

A Great Redemption

So let’s be straight. It’s hard to label people either as one fool or the other.  Particularly if you see traits from both fools in your own life. Ultimately, all that’s left is a gnawing sense that neither one is really worth the air they breathe. They would be better off dead. So what option we are left with?

They can die

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 2:20, he says,

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The gospel is really the answer to so many problems. Through faith in the One who paid the penalty, Jesus, these fools can also be put to death. This is really important. So often we are told, or live under the impression that Jesus died so that we can live- that we can have eternal life. This is partially true. But it is a danger if we forget something vital – he died, suffered a brutal death, so we also might die- all the fleshly passions, seflish desires, and sin.

Paul further explains, in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So anyway, this is great news. 

I was there dude!

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

(2 Peter 1:16-18)

If you are skeptic by nature, and a Christian, the veracity and historicity of the Scriptures are of unparalleled importance. Everything hinges on the gospels. Did God really become flesh? Did he cast out demons? Did he really feed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish?

 In his 2^nd epistle, Peter “the rock” apostle makes a pretty simple argument: You can’t make this stuff up.

Booming voice coming down from heaven? Yeah, I was there. I saw all of it. It really did all go down just like Matthew, Mark, and the boys recorded it. Also, at this point, I imagine Peter mulling a few memories with a bit of inner embarassment …

Remember the ear-chopping incident? Remember anything about me denying Jesus 3 times? Not the highlight of my week. Oh yeah, He also called me SATAN. Just in case you had any doubts about the whole story (and I know you do) don’t you think I probably would try to make a few edits to the cleverly devised end product? Just so, ya know, so I didn’t come across like a big jack wagon ?!

Happy thanksgiving (slightly morbid)

^“Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?” Ecclesiastes 3:21-22

I recently heard of an old man, a deathly ill believer, that for whatever reason it might have been, was not ready to die. On his deathbed he layed unappreciative and frightened at the thought of his own death. Awful. Actually, I couldn’t think of anything more awful than that…to have lived a life full of both spiritual and material blessing, and when the end comes, in your heart of hearts you simply can’t stomach the end. After all, who does he think he is? Fill in the blank with judgemental thoughts…

Then I remembered something, that mere months ago, I got a taste of my own mortality.  Sitting at my desk at work, I felt my heartbeat increase rapidly, a wave of stress in my chest, and noticed my eyesight go blurry for a moment. After a co-worker took me to a nearby clinic, they performed a basic EKG and found no issues. In the aftermath, as I spoke to family and friends, I tried to evaluate my own reaction and mindset. Perhaps God brought that to my attention, as I later listened to this story of the old man, and I remembered distinctly how much I disliked the sensation of losing control – succumbing to something which I have so often denied in song, “…no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.”

The truth is, in so far as a man experiences sadness, fear, and loss, Jesus did to the nth degree. As he prayed upon the Mount of Olives, tears of blood spoke to an uneasy, anxious, and grieved God. There was not anything happy about the cross for Him. Jesus had friends, supporters, family as well. He had a mother that loved him, a brother, a best friend, and he could perform miracles! It’s safe to say he would have rather not died :

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39

It seems to me that an old man who is weak in his death, or a young man full of guilt in his life, has an advocate – He who lived a guiltless life and then died. For then we also might die and then live, abundantly!

If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:12-13

At this point there is wisdom to be gained from the rest of Scripture. Ecclesiastes has a lot of it, I particularly like the above verse. Simple, easy to understand. Is there anything better than for man to enjoy his work? I do enjoy working. Maybe, in this life, a deeper joy comes in knowing there’s nothing else better for me.

Savers are Losers

Of course, not totally. In fact, everyone knows prudence dictates 6 mo - 1 year worth of cash in the bank as an emergency fund.  But if haven’t noticed - Ben Bernanke doesn’t care about your savings, and has made every effort to reinforce this by introducing QE2 – the 2^nd and quite audacious Federal Reserve quantitative easing program.

Simply put, Ben believes that he can arouse the American economy by using monetary policy – the  buying of $600,000,000,000 in US Treasury bonds on the open market. He hopes the banks will lend this money to industry in order to create jobs. Unfortunately, Wall Street has become adept at taking the cash and handing it right back to the US Treasury at a bit higher interest rate. In other words, banks that would have failed without your tax dollars now can borrow money for free from our glorious central bank, provide zero capital to business, all the while rejoicing over new financial regulations that will create barriers to entry and force out smaller competitors. (They are smarter than you BTW)

It’s kind of like VISA or Mastercard Ok’ing your credit card payments with the Monopoly money you found in the hallway closet. The problem is, every dollar of Monopoly money you use makes everyone else’s  REAL money less real and more like monopoly money.

As it turns out China has the most real money out there.  Whats more is they didn’t acquire it by perpetually taking out more credit cards. They built factories, power plants, cars, staplers, tools, and barbie dolls and traded all that stuff to us for OUR money. Ironically, the more of OUR money that gets supplied by Monopoly money the more expensive the stuff they make gets, and the less valuable OUR money becomes. Therefore they would much rather keep their valuable products than receive  our worthless Monopoly money!

Long story short,don’t be left holding monopoly dollars when China no longer wants them. Trade them in now for useful products, cash flow producing assets, or inflation hedges like gold or silver. Cmon! Everybody is doing it.

Answers for the Post Modern Mind

‘I’m Spiritual but not Religious’

This statement is partly true, that human beings are spiritual creatures. It’s helpful to point out that this person is partially correct- human beings are spiritual in nature because we are made in the image of our Designer and have an eternal framework. Now we can address their non-religion (defining ‘religion’ could be helpful). Human beings are inherently worshipers, regardless of whether a person is religious. I think the key here is that whatever makes someone the most happy, that is the object of their worship… Food, sex, money, power. These are common gods in the world. Also, and hardly anyone will disagree here, it is important to note that all human beings desperately want happiness. (“All men desire happiness”-Pascal) But, is it possible to find an infinitely lasting, deep, abiding happiness? If so, where can it be found? Christian hedonism is at the heart of the gospel. Counterfeit happiness might be the issue in this person’s life, and they need to understand what is offered through Jesus Christ. Becoming a Christian is to be set before an enormous feast, with bread of life and streams of living water. Deep , abundant satisfaction is offered. All of these truths are good segways to the gospel itself.

‘We all worship the same God. There are many paths up the mountain’

Unfortunately (or fortunately), Jesus said he was the only way to God:

“I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me”. (John 14:6)

Also, 1 John- “He that hath the Son hath life, he that doth not have the Son doth not have life.” The bottom line here is that Jesus is the only way. It’s helpful to describe Jesus, not only as the only Saviour but also LORD and Creator over all things. Because it’s true! Colossians 1 says he is preeminent :

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”

It could be that many people don’t take Jesus seriously because they are unaware the He created them. For the skeptical mind, this might be a good place to talk about the resurrection , evidences, and the historicity of the Christian faith. In either case, Christ did not leave us the option of delegating him to being ‘one path up the mountain.’

‘Whatever Floats Your Boat’

What if axe murdering floats my boat? Let’s face it this is probably not a good philosophy of life. There has to be a moral order to the universe, or else human beings are just mammals. If a person believes we are just mammals, that probably entails an entirely different conversation. This could be a good opportunity to explain the depravity of certain parts of our culture, and the nature of reality through Creation.



‘Religion is the cause of the world’s problems’

Non-religion actually has the worst record in causing problems. More people have died under the tyranny of atheistic communism and pagan fascism than in any other religious war. Perhaps religion isn’t the issue, maybe mankind is simply depraved?

‘There are good people and bad people’

This is subjective. But not necessarily easy to answer. There are many, many people doing good things all over the world that don’t have anything to do with Christ. There are plenty of humanitarians that don’t want to do humanitarian work for Jesus. So why be so exclusive? The bottom line comes back to much of what Jesus claimed about Himself. However, I think it’s important to maintain the principle of original sin here. It is possible to illustrate original sin, and the natural state of the human. Newly born babies demonstrate this idea quite clearly. They come into the world completely helpless, totally in need of protection, housing, nutrition, and medical care. Yet instead of being grateful upon receiving those things, they are self serving and ego maniacal. Babies cry, pout, and keep parents up all hours of the night. Apart from a parent’s unconditional mercy, there are simply no redeeming characteristics in babies (maybe their cuteness). It is in fact true that we are very much a product of our environment. We become conditioned into who we are based on our parents, friends, teachers and other influences. But, at one time or another, everyone is childish.

‘God and I get along fine’

Tell me about your relationship with God?

Fresh Spring Water

As the deer pants for streams of water,



so my soul pants for you, O God.


My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.


When can I go and meet with God?

My whole being will exclaim,

Who is like you, O LORD ?

You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them."

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

Sacrifice and Consequence

"Forty-four hundred Americans are dead, 30,000 severely wounded, and more than 100,000 are suffering from serious health problems related to post traumatic stress syndrome," Paul said. "This alone should tell us that it was not worth the investment and the needless sacrifice of our young people and the taxpayers." – Ron Paul statement on the Iraq policy, Sep. 1^st 2010

I have been a Ron Paul fan for some time. I watched the 2008 presidential campaign with great interest and enjoyed watching the sharp contrast between Paul and the other candidates. In a Republican party that had too few voices questioning the virtues of global American military presence and an ubridled culture of debt, Paul sparked debates which probably needed more intensity within the party. Interestingly, Paul’s “Campaign for Liberty” lived on unabated, notwithstanding the election of the first Post-American president (who shall remain unnamed).

Since 2008 the Republican party has succumbed to an infusion of tea party candidates who have primary challenged and defeated incumbents. Many have various degrees of similarity to Dr. Paul’s foreign policy views. With this new landscape, a nation afire in libertarian furor, Paul surely sees momentum for a 2012 run.

Perhaps in this light Ron Paul’s statement deserves a closer examination. The big price tag for America’s Iraq and Afghanistan policy is one of Paul’s common themes, an undeniable truth in the ugly face of war. In greater consequence than any other previous American conflicts, the campaigns in the Middle East have drained Americans of resources and goodwill around the world. A looming cloud of debt continues to darken over the US treasury, and perhaps the Congressman is right that it will be our financial insolvency that dictates American withdrawl.

Yet for only a moment, let us leave aside the issue of prudence and consider something a bit more profound. What exactly is it that determines the injustice of a war? Is it soley the misguided policy? If anything, Ron Paul has made one thing perfectly clear in this statement and many others - that not only does he believe that the policy itself is wrong, but that this particular military conflict is immoral primarily because of its tremendous cost. According to Paul, the dollars spent and the price paid by our military service members “alone" determines the morality of the situation. In other words, it is not an enormous leap to infer that even if there was an urgent and desperate need for military action(Iran nukes Mayberry), any war associated with high costs and casualties would be immoral. Given the high- cost scenario, one must therefore conclude (from Dr. Paul's viewpoint) the best moral option is surrender.

This leaves me with a few questions.

-       

Until the battle of Trenton, George Washington had lost more than half of his Continental army, lost battles in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania..was it then immoral for him to cross the Delaware river and capture 800 German mercernaries in the icy snow? Until that point the army had been decimated. It wasn’t until after the victory at Trenton that the Continentals had a surge of 15,000 volunteers.

-       The Allies in WWII lost most air and sea battles until early 1942. German U-boats and Luftwaffe destroyed countless Allied ships and aircraft. Was it immoral at that point for the Allies to continue the war?

-       Does the world look better or worse if the previous was indeed determined immoral?

To Dr Paul’s credit, he frequently talks about the Christian doctrine of just war, articulated by St. Augustine. I only wonder how significant a role it plays in his worldview. I wonder also about the consequences of an anti-war president. A synopsis of Augustine’s theory is linked to here:

http://www.hyw.com/books/history/War__jus.htm