Self
26/09/21
I have given away or lent many books over the years but generally I like to keep them and occasionally I scan the loaded bookshelves to find something I would like to re-read.
I have just pulled off the shelf a book I read some 55 years ago, “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand, which got me thinking about its substance and author. Some of her ideas of self interest with the possible resulting hurt of others is obviously flawed from a Christian viewpoint and I do not intend to expand on her philosophy “Objectivism”. However one aspect stresses the importance of the individual struggling against the corrupting evil of political and even religious authoritarianism. This argues that we must be true to ourselves, free from pretence.
We should not worry about what others think of us and never be ashamed of our convictions. (Luke 9:26 “For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of him.”)
Pretence is compromising our true selves. It comes down to the fact that we are not only being dishonest with others but we are also being dishonest with ourselves and our God. ( Luke 9:25 “What will a man gain by winning (let alone impressing) the whole world, at the cost of losing HIS TRUE SELF”.)
What is our true self? We are what we believe to be true. Clothes do not make the man. It is beliefs and convictions that make the man and it is essential that we live honestly in accord with self. We might learn to compromise in order to share and be fair but we should never compromise our beliefs. We should at all times be true to ourselves.
The Pharisee was the sort of man that Jesus warned would receive the severest sentence. The hypocrite who deceives himself. He thinks he serves God, he believes he is the disciple, and yet he lacks something essential. It is not just that he is not sufficiently humble and repentant, it is that he lacks integrity, he is dishonest to himself. While thinking he serves God he is concerned for his own image, he is worried about what others think of him and is anxious to conform. He may be concerned for others, for that is Gods will, yet he cannot stop looking after his own welfare.
We need desperately to be completely honest with our God and that means being completely honest with ourselves. We must be honest in our very essence, as individuals. Self is defined as that individual essence, – to be completely honest we must examine ourselves and strip away any pretence. God knows who we are and what we could be and it is up to us to live honestly.
I have always thought it unfortunate that we tend to look on self as something bad, something to deny and overcome.
If we see SELF as wrong, we endanger the credibility of the individuals that God made us.
World establishment belittles the common man, rejects individuality and elevates conformity. The worldly dictat is that we must sedate our will, our own being and sacrifice self, ostensibly for the good of all. The church is in real danger if it takes this doctrine and applies it to itself.
Let us consider the often quoted words of Jesus. “Not my will but thine.” Was he in fact saying that we should have no self will? I think not because Jesus accepted that HIS self was to be shaped and formed by the will of His Father and not by the desires of humanity. It was Christ’s will to embrace God’s goodness. That was who Jesus was. That was Jesus’ true self to which he had to remain completely honest. For the Christian, it is essential to ensure that our SELF is a Christ-like self. Then it is important that we ensure that what others see is what we are.
We must live our religion honestly, true to ourselves. We will not need to give or to receive praise or reward from others. We will do things because our self conviction tells us it is right, not because it is convenient, easy, lucrative, or what will make us feel good. God gave us self-will, he did not wish for spineless clones. He created us with individual spirit, he wants self minded not mindless children. Children true to ourselves free from hypocrisy and pretence.
Jesus showed deference to no man. His life was lived with little regard for the opinions and standards of others. He was totally his own man and despised pretension and hypocrisy. He could have been idolised, popular and adored. He could have been the greatest of the A grade celebrities, the centre of attention. He could have impressed everyone and become the most popular and important man in the world.
However, Jesus was too honest for this world and was despised, rejected and finally killed by respectable society who were scared by his honesty and could not understand his priorities. The ironic thing is that in shunning all those things that the world believes is important, Jesus has still become one of the most influential, important and famous people ever to live.
The last shall be first.
We thank God that Jesus made his whole SELF subservient not to worldly approval but to reflecting the nature of His father. His rejection by the world made possible our acceptance by God.
Jesus foretells his rejection by the so called “important” people of the day. He predicts his suffering, death and resurrection. Jesus was Jesus, a truly honest man, true to himself and his father, even if what he had to do was hard and painful.
We remember just WHY his suffering was necessary, WHY God allowed his only beloved son to be sacrificed for a wicked, false and weak-willed world. If our desire is to be more like Jesus then let us examine ourselves candidly and vow to be strong willed and to live our lives honest to ourselves and our God, totally free from pretence.
PG
I have just pulled off the shelf a book I read some 55 years ago, “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand, which got me thinking about its substance and author. Some of her ideas of self interest with the possible resulting hurt of others is obviously flawed from a Christian viewpoint and I do not intend to expand on her philosophy “Objectivism”. However one aspect stresses the importance of the individual struggling against the corrupting evil of political and even religious authoritarianism. This argues that we must be true to ourselves, free from pretence.
We should not worry about what others think of us and never be ashamed of our convictions. (Luke 9:26 “For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of him.”)
Pretence is compromising our true selves. It comes down to the fact that we are not only being dishonest with others but we are also being dishonest with ourselves and our God. ( Luke 9:25 “What will a man gain by winning (let alone impressing) the whole world, at the cost of losing HIS TRUE SELF”.)
What is our true self? We are what we believe to be true. Clothes do not make the man. It is beliefs and convictions that make the man and it is essential that we live honestly in accord with self. We might learn to compromise in order to share and be fair but we should never compromise our beliefs. We should at all times be true to ourselves.
The Pharisee was the sort of man that Jesus warned would receive the severest sentence. The hypocrite who deceives himself. He thinks he serves God, he believes he is the disciple, and yet he lacks something essential. It is not just that he is not sufficiently humble and repentant, it is that he lacks integrity, he is dishonest to himself. While thinking he serves God he is concerned for his own image, he is worried about what others think of him and is anxious to conform. He may be concerned for others, for that is Gods will, yet he cannot stop looking after his own welfare.
We need desperately to be completely honest with our God and that means being completely honest with ourselves. We must be honest in our very essence, as individuals. Self is defined as that individual essence, – to be completely honest we must examine ourselves and strip away any pretence. God knows who we are and what we could be and it is up to us to live honestly.
I have always thought it unfortunate that we tend to look on self as something bad, something to deny and overcome.
If we see SELF as wrong, we endanger the credibility of the individuals that God made us.
World establishment belittles the common man, rejects individuality and elevates conformity. The worldly dictat is that we must sedate our will, our own being and sacrifice self, ostensibly for the good of all. The church is in real danger if it takes this doctrine and applies it to itself.
Let us consider the often quoted words of Jesus. “Not my will but thine.” Was he in fact saying that we should have no self will? I think not because Jesus accepted that HIS self was to be shaped and formed by the will of His Father and not by the desires of humanity. It was Christ’s will to embrace God’s goodness. That was who Jesus was. That was Jesus’ true self to which he had to remain completely honest. For the Christian, it is essential to ensure that our SELF is a Christ-like self. Then it is important that we ensure that what others see is what we are.
We must live our religion honestly, true to ourselves. We will not need to give or to receive praise or reward from others. We will do things because our self conviction tells us it is right, not because it is convenient, easy, lucrative, or what will make us feel good. God gave us self-will, he did not wish for spineless clones. He created us with individual spirit, he wants self minded not mindless children. Children true to ourselves free from hypocrisy and pretence.
Jesus showed deference to no man. His life was lived with little regard for the opinions and standards of others. He was totally his own man and despised pretension and hypocrisy. He could have been idolised, popular and adored. He could have been the greatest of the A grade celebrities, the centre of attention. He could have impressed everyone and become the most popular and important man in the world.
However, Jesus was too honest for this world and was despised, rejected and finally killed by respectable society who were scared by his honesty and could not understand his priorities. The ironic thing is that in shunning all those things that the world believes is important, Jesus has still become one of the most influential, important and famous people ever to live.
The last shall be first.
We thank God that Jesus made his whole SELF subservient not to worldly approval but to reflecting the nature of His father. His rejection by the world made possible our acceptance by God.
Jesus foretells his rejection by the so called “important” people of the day. He predicts his suffering, death and resurrection. Jesus was Jesus, a truly honest man, true to himself and his father, even if what he had to do was hard and painful.
We remember just WHY his suffering was necessary, WHY God allowed his only beloved son to be sacrificed for a wicked, false and weak-willed world. If our desire is to be more like Jesus then let us examine ourselves candidly and vow to be strong willed and to live our lives honest to ourselves and our God, totally free from pretence.
PG
blog comments powered by Disqus