LET ALL OF US COME TO GOD WITH A REPENTANT HEART.

“ Self-Righteousness: Self-justification ”

"Let us offer this prayer:
Let me open my heart and listen to others when
people say the truth about me. I want to accept this 
practical help to be freed from the curse of blind
self-righteousness. It is so hard for me to hear others 
tell me about my weaknesses and my mistakes. But I
want to accept it as Your special offer of love to me,
because Your warning voice comes to me through
such people. I want to give thanks for every person
who calls my attention to my mistakes. And when
this does not happen, I want to ask the people 
around me to tell me everything. And even if the
admonitions and accusations are not one hundred 
per cent true, I want to use the opportunity to break 
my self-righteousness and self-justification. I want to 
fight to the point of shedding blood "
Blind pride goes hand in hand with self-righteousness, and this co-sin usually has to be cleansed through chastening. Through chastening we are to gain sight for our real condition. Then we will learn that we are really sinners and how greatly we fall short of the glory of God Rev_3:18  f. Chastening makes the proud humble, if we accept it. Yes, if the chastening shows us the truth about ourselves and helps us repent, we will be helped. But whoever bears it full of self-pity with such pious expressions as "I want to take it from God's hand" will never be redeemed from the dreadful sin of self-righteousness.

Chastenings, such as sickness, working with difficult people, frustration of one's own wishes and plans, humiliations and disappointments of all sorts, are to serve to bring our sins into the light and help us recognize them. Then we can only beat our own breasts and say, "We are receiving the due reward of our deeds" Luk_23:41. When we are humiliated in this way, our proud self-righteousness will be healed. We will have gained our sight.


Yet all these things could not help us, if there were not Someone, who was able to be silent, when people accused Him unjustly: Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was "dumb before His shearers". He has also redeemed us to be silent so that we no longer have to justify ourselves in words or thoughts. Jesus has conquered the enemy, the old liar, and set us free from all self-justification. He is the Saviour, who will also heal this sinful ailment, as it is written, "With his stripes we are healed" Isa_53:5.


He will even heal the worst type of self-righteousness: thinking that we are not self-righteous at all. His blood will cleanse us in a long healing process, whose first sign of progress is that we will be able to admit our self-righteousness. "That's the way I am, full of self-righteous pride." If we confess our sins and repent of them, He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1John 1:9. Every self-righteous thought loses its power, as soon as we bring it under the blood of Jesus. Therefore, we must be alert. If we cannot understand an accusation or a reproach, there is still one way open to us-we can ask God to give us the true perspectives through His Spirit. Then we will see clearly how we caused the situation. In times of quiet prayer God will show us our "Account Book". Certainly once in a while there may be a mistake that has to be explained. But then we must pray about it so that we can explain it humbly.

Let us persevere in the battle of faith, claiming the victory of Jesus ever anew, prepared to accept God's chastening. We will find that the chains of self-righteousness, which bind us to Satan's kingdom, will burst and we will inherit the Kingdom of God. For God, nothing is impossible.