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Transcript 371A — On Trying Too Hard to be "Christ-Like"
CALLER: I have one small question. Wherever I am, I want people to see Jesus Christ, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing. I really want people to see Him, and not me. And when I'm doing my homework, I sometimes have such a hard time doing homework. And I sometimes figure that God is kind of pitying me because I'm not doing so well in my homework, or whatever it is. And this just came to me yesterday. But Sunday I was really getting depressed about this, and I just look into myself and see all these bad things about me, and I dwell on them. And I was just wondering if you could give a few words about it, maybe why I do that, or why I don't have to do it.
HC: Let me make a suggestion to you. One of the major sins that we have to strive with, even after we're saved, is the sin of pride. And I'm not judging you. I'm just trying to evaluate what you're saying, so you can look at yourself. You have to make your own application.
But when we say, "I want others to see Christ in me," that could be said from an ego position. In other words, "I want to be recognized as a very fine, upstanding child of God, that others will want to emulate me, that it can really be seen that God's work of grace has come into my life. See what a wonderful person I am." Now that is strictly an ego trip, if that should be, in any sense, the reason that I want Christ to be seen in me. And as believers we can really go on these ego trips.
And then when we sin, or when we don't measure up to the fact that Christ can be seen in our life, or if we sense that our friends aren't quite as excited about our Christian life as we thought they ought to be, then we feel offended. Then we feel frustrated. Then we feel, "Hmmm, it's not very good." And all that's happening is that our pride is suffering. It's not their problem; it's our problem. We're living in sin.
Maybe this is the reason, when you do homework, then you don't have anybody looking at you. You're all alone. And there's isn't any path to glory this way. It's just a matter of patiently grinding it out, with nobody seeing you except you and your God. And so that isn't a very happy business. There's no glory there.
Okay. Now every one of us is troubled by this pride to some degree. Now the Biblical rule is contained in the language of John the Baptist: "He [that is, Christ] must increase. I must decrease." If we find that we are looking for compliments from others, if we find that we are saddened, or troubled, or frustrated, because someone is not looking with glow in their eyes because they see what a wonderful person we are, then we know that we're walking on an ego trip. The biblical rule is that we are to walk humbly. We are not to look for compliments. We are not to be men-pleasers. The only one we are to please is God. We are to live to His glory.
Whether someone compliments us, or whether someone shines up to us, indicating that they are grateful for the life we live, or not, is beside the question. It has nothing to do with it at all.
The fact is, if you are really living for Christ, if you really are being obedient to the Word of God, the odds are that many of your friends will disdain you. They will begin to turn away from you, because they're troubled by the fact that you're taking such a narrow position on so many issues in the Bible. Jesus Himself warned, "Beware if all men speak well of you."
You see, when God speaks about us being the fragrance of Christ, or that others might see Christ in us, it doesn't mean that others all over the place are going to be grateful and happy and joyful because of what they see. Most of the people who looked at Christ were not happy at what they saw, were they? When He really began to describe the kind of Savior He was, in John 6, we read that most of the people fell away. Most of the people fell away. He was repudiated by mankind. He was a reproach to them. And to a very high degree, our lives will be a reproach to others, if we are living God's way.
Now fellow believers, those who are born again, or those who are being attracted to the Gospel by the wooing, by the drawing of the Father, those who are, in other words, on the path toward salvation, will be attracted to us, because they see Christ in our lives. But you can depend upon it. They're only a tiny minority of all that we are surrounded with. They are only the remnant chosen by grace.
So you're going to find, on the average, that more people will become increasingly offended as you live very carefully the way God wants you to live than you will find that they will be grateful to you for your life.
Can you see the problem?
CALLER: Sure, I can. I'd like to ask, if I do have this problem with ego, it can be unconscious, can't it?
HC: Well, of course it is. Sin can be unconscious, or subconscious.
CALLER: Okay. Is the only cure for that prayer?
HC: The cure for that is repentance. The cure for any sin is repentance. Now that you suspect that maybe you're having this sin problem, and which Christian does not have that sin problem to some degree? It means that the next time you feel empty in your soul, because of whatever, you look at yourself very objectively and say, "Look, brother, are you on an ego trip? Are you unhappy because somebody didn't compliment you? Are you unhappy because no one is recognizing what a great and wonderful Christian you are? Perish the thought I'd better go to the Lord and ask His forgiveness. Oh Father, forgive me for my pride. Forgive me for looking for attention. Forgive me for wanting to be in the limelight. Oh Father, I want only Christ to be all glorious. I don't want anyone to see me. I want them to see Christ." You see?
CALLER: Yes, okay. Thank you very much.
HC: I hope this helps a little. Thank you for calling. Good night.