POP-PSYCHOLOGY VS THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD
2 Peter 2:1 (NIV 1984) But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV 1984) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
We are the product of a secular, humanistic culture. In case your wondering, our nation is no longer a Christian nation, at least in the way it used to be. We have traded theism (belief in God) for humanism (belief in man); we have traded divine instruction for human opinions; and we have traded objective observation for subjective interpretation. In other words, we have made ourselves god. This is very observable in our present language. Listen to how many “Godless”, self-centered phrases that are used in our secular culture, and dare I say the church as well. I’ll admit, I’ve used them myself, and I bet you have too. Let’s look at a few and test them out.
How many times have you heard that we are to “love ourselves”, or the reverse, that we need to get delivered from “self-hate”. I’ve heard people, even my favorite preachers, actually take Jesus’ words that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:39) and teach that this is a command to “love ourselves”; after all, according to this teaching, we can’t love our neighbor as ourselves if we do not love ourselves first. Here’s another: “Believe in yourself!” Or how about, “We must forgive ourselves”? The list goes on and on: “Find yourself!” “Be yourself!” Or even more confusing, “You be you!” Or, “I deserve this or that.” Beloved, where is God in all of this language? I’ll tell you. Nowhere! Because this language is birthed from a godless mindset that has long removed God and replaced him with ourselves.
Seriously, think about the confusion this produces. How do you actually forgive yourself? What is the process to make that happen? Did you sin against yourself and need to ask yourself for forgiveness? It’s confusing. How do you find yourself, or be yourself, or believe in yourself? What scripture gives us is the antidote to this selfish thinking. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor “as ourselves” (emphasis mine). How does this work? Well, when I’m hungry, thirsty, or tired, I do all in my power to feed, hydrate, and rest myself. I rarely deny myself pleasure and comfort, and when I do I get bored and complain. Loving myself has never been my problem. I do that quite well, thank you very much! Jesus is telling us to take that energy and focus it on others, even to the point of denying ourselves. And if I’m feeling guilty, God gives me a clear remedy, Acts 3:19 and 1 John 1:9, repent and confess. If I’ve sinned against God, I turn from the sin towards Him, and I confess it to Him, and He says I’m forgiven. Beloved, if God, the ultimate one I have sinned against (Ps 51:4), says I am forgiven, who do I think I am that I would argue with that? I do not need to forgive myself, I merely need to trust the One in whom the power of forgiveness rests. This is God-centered thinking, and it works. It frees us from guilt. Trying to forgive myself leaves me spinning in a cycle of self condemnation that wreaks havoc on my soul.
To be sure, I do not think most of us mean to distance ourselves from God with this language, and I admit there is a little semantics going on here. But if we don’t mean to be Godless in our words, then let’s not be Godless in our words. While we may mean the same thing, the words are not the same, and Godless words produce Godless results. We are the people of God. Let’s take captive humanistic thoughts and point ourselves, and those around us, back to God.
