We Don’t Have Time to Be Arrogant and Self-Centered

I make it my aim to stay on the narrow road, relying on Jesus instead of my own self.

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. That’s not to say that I am just like him in every way, but that is my goal. Still, in spite of my best efforts, I fall way short. 

Thankfully, my inability to be perfect isn’t the standard God uses to judge me. 

The longest recorded sermon of Jesus can be found in Matthew chapters five through seven.  Somewhere along the way, someone called it the Sermon on the Mount. It’s called that because a large crowd of interested people had assembled on a hillside to hear Jesus preach. 

During this sermon, Jesus would point at the actions of the religious leaders (the people who worshipped the temple of God more than they worshipped the God of the temple) and said to the people, “Don’t be like these leaders.” Then he would give them marching orders about how they should live if they wanted to please God.

If you want to know what he said about how you and I can please God, it’s really pretty simple.  You shouldn’t take my word for it but read it for yourself. He basically said, “If you want to honor God, you should humble yourselves before him.”

I want to briefly let you in on what you need to know to please him.

WE ARE ALL FILTHY SINNERS!

From what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, one thing I want to avoid is the temptation to become arrogant. You know what I mean! When we hold others accountable for their little sins when we are guilty of far worse. Jesus compared it to trying to get a little speck out of your brother’s or sister’s eye while you have a 2x4 sticking out of yours. 

Since I am as at least as sinful as the next guy, you won’t find me withholding forgiveness from the guilty. I not only desire humility before God, but I pray for it. I heard what Jesus said, and I’ve been trying to implement it in my life.

GOD IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF ME!

While it is true that I am a sinner, God is sinless and perfect as if he is a mirror reflection of me.  He is holy and righteous! If that were all he is, however, we would be stuck forever in a vacuum. We would have no hope of ever getting out of the hole we put ourselves in due to our tendency to do the wrong thing.

God is holy, and it is his holiness that makes the gospel so amazing. Think about it: A perfect and sinless God who happens to hold all power and authority saw fit to pour out his love on the very people who rebelled against him and tried to dethrone him. No man would do that! Most of us would work hard to repay those who wronged us.

Instead, God worked hard to pay the debt we owed him by giving us Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins. In other words, he paid our debt (the one we owed him) at his own expense. This is why he honors those who seek after him. He desires us! He is always ready to reveal himself and open the door so that we can have fellowship with him.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

—Matthew 7:7-8

THE ROAD TO GOD IS WINDING AND NARROW

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

—Matthew 7:13-14

When I was a young man, the preacher would preach from this passage, but it was always a warning to keep the code of the law better. Do better! That’s what I always heard.

However, if we take this verse in its context, it is really a warning against something much more sinister. It is, instead, a caution against doing what the Pharisees and the other religious leaders did … to elevate ourselves above other people. One thing I’ve observed over the years is that while it may be possible to look good when I compare myself with other human beings, I never win when I compare myself with God. Not ever!

But our desire to promote ourselves to a position we aren’t qualified to occupy runs so deep in our earthly and sinful natures that it is a constant battle for us not to fall prey to it. This is why Jesus said it is a narrow road.

I’ve found out that humility is a natural by-product of me keeping my eyes and thoughts on Jesus instead of my own goodness. If I’m looking at my righteousness, I tend to be angry and self-righteous. I tend to enjoy making others grovel in the dust.

However, when my eyes are on the one who died for me and was raised from the dead on my behalf, I am by nature a very humble man. That’s because I then realize that it’s not about me at all. The only good thing I’ve ever done that could make me right before God is to believe the one who died for me.

GUARD YOUR HEART AND KEEP YOUR FOCUS PURE

Yes, the pathway to God is a very narrow road. We don’t have the time or freedom to take our eyes off of the cross of Christ. A little step to the left or the right can lead us away from a life of meaning and purpose rooted in the gospel to a life controlled by self-promotion. 

For this reason, I make it my aim to stay on the narrow road, relying on Jesus instead of my own self.