The Danger of Self-Flattery

Every day when I do my confessions, I have to confess my pride. If I’m honest before God, I have to admit that I’m in the habit of thinking way too highly of myself.

In light of that, let’s listen to David’s reflection on pride: For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin, Psalm 36:2.

In short, David is stating that we all tend to think too highly of ourselves. He is not advocating self-hatred or self-rejection, for both are ungodly. He is, however, advocating sin-hatred and sin-rejection, for both are godly and biblical. When we think too much of ourselves we miss the reality of sin in our lives.

What is self-flattery? It is the promotion of yourself over what is accurate and truthful. It is the unrealistic view that you are responsible for the good and blessings in your life. It is seeing yourself as naturally better than others and thinking that you are always right. It is being so enamored, so pleased with yourself that confession of sin and brokenness before God seem almost unnecessary. What little confession that is offered is actually only rote religious behavior.

And because of this, we can neither detect nor hate our sin, both of which are necessary for authentic Christ-following. So what do we do? How do we combat the never-ending onslaught of self-flattery? First, read the Word. The Bible does a great job of painting an honest picture of man. Second, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your sins to you. Ask him to unearth what you have buried and to keep your heart broken over your sin. Third, live in community. Give godly Christ-followers permission to probe your heart. They’ll see things in you that you either miss or ignore. Finally, serve others. Serving those who can’t serve you back is a great way to keep ourselves in perspective.

Jesus would not have had to die if things were peachy keen with us. Don’t be blind to your own need. Lord, help me not to think too highly of myself.