You're Fooling Yourself

You're fooling yourself if you don't believe it.  You're kidding yourself if you don't believe it. -"The Angry Young Man" by Styx.

Two thousand years before the band Styx sang those lyrics, Paul warned the Galatians of the danger of self-deception.  "For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself" (v3).  

When I start believing my own press clippings and forgetting what God says about me, I'm headed for a huge fall.  And the only one truly to blame is staring back at me in the bathroom mirror.

You're fooling yourself.

Remember the context.  Paul is writing an emergency letter to the churches of Galatia in what is now the south central part of modern day Turkey.  

The apostle had gloriously proclaimed the freedom we have in Jesus because of what He did for us.  

But just after Paul left, a team of spiritual snake oil salesmen called the Judaizers sold the Galatians a counterfeit gospel of works righteousness.  

They duped them into believing that Jesus may get us into His kingdom but it's up to us to stay in it through religious rule-keeping.  

Paul battled these jerks in just about every place he planted a church.  He warned Titus on the island of Crete about them.  "For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party" (Titus 1:10).

One horrible consequence of the Judaizers' deception is an inward focus on self.  Tullian Tchividjian calls it Christian narcissism (an oxymoron if there ever was one!).  

We get wrapped up with how we're doing.  We begin to think we're doing pretty good.  We begin to think we really can save ourselves.  Paul had already warned the Galatians about the horrible results of these self-salvation projects.  

We end up biting and devour one another (Gal 5:13).  It leads to a lurid list of self-centered sin (Gal 5:19-21).  He waves the caution flag about looking out for number one.  "Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another" (Gal 5:26).

The apostle begins by writing, "For if anyone thinks he is something..." (v3).  He uses the Greek verb δοκεω/dokeo.  This is not a logical assessment of my situation based on fact.  

This term describes a subjective opinion.  It means to suppose, presume, imagine and to regard something to be true without any certainty.  

I've begun to believe the lie by judging myself by MY standards.  I've become the great decider and evaluator.  This is the lie the serpent whispered into Eve's ear in the garden (Gen 3:4).  We can be God!  

But when we begin to believe that we're hot stuff, we're in BIG trouble.  

Remember what happened when Job demanded that God answer to him?  It resulted in one of the great biblical beat downs in all of Scripture (Job 38-41).  

When you think you're able to render judgments and opinions apart from what God says, be careful.  Be VERY careful.

You're fooling yourself.

Paul then reminds us of one very sobering fact: "when he is nothing."  You might think your all that, but you're actually none of that.  

It's the cotton candy of conceit.  It look really good.  But one bite and it dissolves into nothing.  The original text literally reads, "For if someone presumes to be something, being nothing..."  

You're fooling yourself.

The man from Tarsus pulls no punches when dealing with pride and conceit.  He wants me to know that I'm public enemy number one.  I'm the problem.  I'm the one who's doing the deceiving.  

The Bible tells us that we have three mortal enemies in this world: Satan, the world and our own flesh.  Too often we love to play the victim.  "It's not my fault!  The devil made me do it!  The world pulled me down into sin!”  

Does spiritual warfare exist?  Absolutely.  Is Satan real and working against us?  You betcha.  Do we live in a fallen world that's riding to hell in a well-crafted hand basket?  No doubt about it.  

But in most cases, it's my own flesh that does me in.  That was Paul's point in Galatians 5:18-26.

The result of pride and selfishness is self-deception.  "He deceives himself" (v3).  Here the apostle uses the verb φρεναπαταω/phrenapatao.  It means to cause someone to believe what is not true; to deceive, fool, mislead, delude.  

It's the idea of causing someone to have an erroneous view of the truth.  Paul warns the folks in Ephesus about folks who hoodwink and bamboozle.  

"Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience" (Eph 5:6).  

Anyone who would dupe another is a bad dude.  Oh, snap!  It's me!!  The Corinthians read a similar warning.  "Let no one deceive himself.  If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise" (1Cor 3:18, emphasis added).

You're fooling yourself.

It's a matter of proper perspective.  It's a matter of a biblical perspective.  I am NOT God.  As a matter of fact, not even close!  I'm a sinner (Rom 3:9-12, 23).  

I have a terminal condition called total depravity.  We don't like admitting this.  That's one reason sin has fallen out of favor.  In a world focused on building up my self-esteem, words like sin and repentance hurt my feelings.  

I must wake up and smell the coffee.  I'm a sinner.  I need a Savior.  I need Jesus!

We must have a sober view of ourselves.  A biblical view of ourselves.  "I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment..." (Rom 12:3).  

I need to see myself through God's lens.  A sinner WITHOUT Christ.  A saint IN Christ.  He undeservedly gives me the only righteousness I have.  I'm just a beggar who's figured out where to get the bread.

I'm fooling myself if I think any other way.

©2012

Jay Jennings