If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
Summary: Thinking we are normal is a normal thing to do. Thinking we are better than others is not normal.
I have to confess that this verse makes me chuckle. It sounds like it came straight out of either the Book of Proverbs or possibly a fortune cookie!
Taken by itself, this sentence covers a lot of ground. Most of us probably know someone who comes across like the person Paul describes. Yet, who doesn’t think they are “something?”
I can’t help but think of Paul’s famous line, “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). If I think of myself as “good,” I deceive myself.
In one sense, this truth applies equally to all of us. But that is not the way Paul is using it.
Paul is not speaking in terms of the whole range of human experience. Instead, he is addressing a subset of that range.
In the part of that range we call “normal,” there is a spectrum of behavior. On the one end are people who are very self-aware. On the other end, are people who have no self-awareness at all. It is this second group that Paul refers to.
People lacking in self-awareness “deceive themselves.” Another way of saying this is that they believe their lies. This is more than just a “Walter Mitty” escape from reality. Believing our lies become part of our reality.
For example, suppose a person gets a job as a college professor. The students in the class tend to agree with everything the professor says because they are not stupid. They know the professor is the one who assigns their grades for the class, and they all want a good grade. Later, after years of people telling the professor how smart he is, he begins to believe he is smarter than everyone else. He begins to think he is “something.”
People who know the professor outside the classroom tolerate his superior attitude because it goes with the territory. Other people, not vested in the college economy are less impressed. This is when the self-deceit becomes obvious. Our professor becomes irritated if people don’t respect him properly. Inside the classroom he is something. Outside the school, not so much.
This same thing can happen in the church when we link our opinions about things to God’s righteousness.
We all have a sense of “right and “wrong.” Not all of us agree on what right and wrong mean. Even fewer of us see right and wrong through God’s eyes. It is only a problem when I think I am “something” and my sense of right and wrong is more right than yours or anyone else’s.
This is why it is good to strive for humility. Not only because Jesus was humble (Matthew 11:29) but also because he warned us that “those who exalt themselves will be humbled” (Matthew 23:12).
Application: Take Jesus’ advice: “… learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29)
Food for Thought: How do we know if we really are “something?”
How do we know if we really are “something?”
We are always something in the eyes of God,
John 3:16, For God so loved and dearly prized the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
We know the events, actions of our lives pass from being nothing, into being something as we find ourselves turning from things of this world and to living the truths of God. In ourselves we are incapable of doing good, and it is only in Christ, each believer is empowered to live their lives pleasing to God. It is the power of Jesus Christ in each believer that is our strength to turn from the powers of this world, as we submit to the authority and love of God in our hearts, living lives demonstrating His will for all mankind to those around us.
John 15:5, I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
2 Corinthians 3:5, Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:21, God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Great answer, Ron!
Occasionally someone will ask me to do something, and I am able to do it, and they may say “Oh, you are a good [insert whatever here].” I was good in the moment, but there are areas of the same task that perhaps I am not.
I think a key piece to this puzzle is relevancy. We are only “something” when we can act upon a circumstance. That takes into account previous experience, wisdom, knowledge, and belief, and the will to act. I think Paul is saying we deceive ourselves when we believe we are something that is fixed. We can, in one moment “be something” and in another “not be that something.” I think we when start to believe that we do not need to grow, adapt, change, renew, or act we deceive ourselves into thinking we are something that we are not. That we have somehow achieved a level of permanent identity. This brings in that self-awareness and humility that you speak about. The only permanent identity we have is in Christ, but in the permanent identity lies humility, self sacrifice, and faith in God. Our faith is demonstrated in our works, not for our redemption, but that Christ lives in us and shows us how to act in love.
James 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Thanks Chris!
I like the concept of relevancy. We are “something” when we are chosen by God for a specific relevant purpose.