Merrium-Webster defines self-righteous as having or showing a strong belief that your own actions, opinions, etc., are right and other people's are wrong.
Dictionary.com describes self-righteous as being confident of one's own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behaviors of others.
Did you know that you can be self-righteous and not even know it? I have just recently gone through a very wide and dark valley of depression. I prayed and begged God to help me come out of it, and yet it continued. I had no idea what had brought me to this darkness.
The devil loves any foothold he can get on you. Certainly my life long battle with depression is an easy button to press once given the foothold to reach it. Self-righteousness was that foothold. So, seeing the chance to pull me down, he reached up and pressed that button that sent me crashing into the darkest place I've ever been.
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Now that verse is referring to when Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, but Joseph ended up finding favor with the Pharaoh and was even placed second in command only to Pharaoh himself. What was meant to do Joseph harm turned into a huge blessing not just for Joseph and his family but for all Egypt. He was in a position to help prepare for the future by storing all the extra grain from the good years of harvest so that there would be enough to feed everyone through the years of famine.
Now I don't claim to be blessed as Joseph was, but I do claim the good God means for me through the depression I endured. It was not until I had recognized that I was so very self-righteous that the darkness began to fade. I looked at how I truly felt toward others. I saw my own behavior and attitude toward them. I admit to being shocked and greatly ashamed at what I just discovered about myself.
I looked down on those who claimed they knew Jesus but didn't display what I thought they should be if they truly knew Him. I looked down on people who never picked up their bibles. I compared my own walk with the Lord to what I could see of their walk with Him. There are a number of other things too. God stripped all of it away, leaving me raw but free of the burden of self-righteousness.
The truth is, I am no better than anyone else on the planet. There are no distinctions between any of us here, but one. There is only the Saved and the Lost here. As one of the Saved we are to plant the seeds of the Gospel. We are not to judge anyone. Only God can see into a person's heart. Only He knows for sure if that one is saved. It's not anyone's business but that one and God.
Everyone is in a different place in their lives. How can you look down on anyone for their weaknesses? Just because they may have different weaknesses than you doesn't mean that they are weaker than you. We all need Jesus the same.
An addict may actually be saved but you happened to see them at a moment of weakness where they gave into the addiction. Or maybe they still struggle with letting it go. We are all human. We all get tempted. Can you honestly say you never once gave into any temptation?
There are times, too, that a saved person is not even aware they are doing something wrong. It is not for us to judge them for the wrong. We can lovingly try to point them in the right direction, or let it go. We have no right to place them on our personal judgment scale. We have no right to even think anyone is any more or less saved than another saved person, including ourselves. God is the one who does the work in us. God is the only Judge.
We must remember that what God does to change any of us is done on the inside. Can you see inside someone else? No. Only God can. We are always going to be a work-in-progress until the day God takes us Home.
Through all of this, through the depression, God opened my eyes. He opened my ears and my heart to finally hear what I needed to hear. I had become judgmental and self-righteous. It was hurting me and those I love. Because it affected my attitude and behavior it affected everyone I came in contact with. I was not being a very good representation of Christ.
Even though the valley felt like I was at Hell's gates, I am thankful for it. I'm not a better Christian than anyone else now for having gone through this lesson. But I am more free than I was. It is one less foothold for the devil to use against me.
The world looks a lot different when you finally see yourself no better or worse off than anyone else. It's hard to look up to God if you're always looking down at the others around you. You know what else? It's a lot easier to reach out to those around you when you don't elevate above them.
