Inferiority, Not Superiority

“Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.” (De 9:4 AV)

This is good advice.  The last thing we need to do is get an elevated opinion of ourselves.  The temptation is easy to understand.  Once Israel began to possess the land, they could get the idea their success came from their own righteousness.  They could believe God was judging other nations because Israel was the holy nation.  This temptation is one of which the saints of God often face.  When we see God using us to correct someone else, we can get in our mind the idea that we have not been corrected because we are somewhat more righteous than the one whom we helped.  Paul warns of this attitude.  He states, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Ga 6:1 AV) Christ also reminds us to remove the beam from our own eye before we help someone else remove the beam that is in their eye.  His point is we all have beams.  We all have faults.  We are to help others remove their faults.  Absolutely.  But we are to remember we have faults of our own.

To elevate oneself to a morally superior status is dangerous.  If we begin to think ourselves more morally superior to others, it will not take very long before we fall into something equal to, or worse, then that which we have judged.  I had an interesting experience.  Last year, I was finally seated as a juror.  The reason I say finally is that every time I get a new license, whatever algorithm is used to send out jury duty letters tends to pick my name.  No kidding.  Since I moved from my father’s house in my early twenties, I have been summoned no less than six times.  Up until the last time, I had been excused because I have three siblings who work in law enforcement.  Coupled with the fact I am a minister and am uncomfortable with sitting on a jury where there will be one side of the dispute to whom I will never have ministry based on their feelings over the verdict, serving on a jury was not going to happen.  That is, until this last time.  What I found interesting was the dichotomy of the jurors waiting to sit and hear the case.  We were removed from the courtroom twice.  Which means we all sat together for the better part of a day in a small room above the courtroom.  Conversations among jurors were about a myriad of things.  However, sometimes they delved into the case at hand.  Which, by the way, they were not supposed to.  Anyway, the interesting thing was the matter-of-fact way in which the jurors viewed the accusations against the accused.  To a person, not one of them expressed any hint of moral superiority.  The facts of the case were all that mattered.  This is crucial to be fair and impartial.  I was rather proud of being part of this group.

Every nation used of God to correct Israel made the mistake of feeling morally superior.  Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and even Germany all believed themselves to be superior to God’s people simply because they won a physical battle.  If the people of God are not careful, we can do the same thing.  If parents are not careful, they can do the same thing.  If any authority figure thinks he or she is morally superior to those whom they are correcting, they are doing the same thing.  God did not use Israel to chasten and judge the enemies of God because they were morally superior.   God used them because they were chosen as part of God’s plan.  A parent is not a parent because he or she is morally superior to a child.  A police officer is not one because he is morally superior to a criminal.  A boss is not a boss because he is morally superior.  A judge is not a judge because he or she is morally superior.  A teacher is not a teacher because she is morally superior.  Meekness, as Paul stated, is the key.  We are no better than the one whom we are correcting.  We need to remember this lest we fall into a worse situation than the ones whom we are trying to help.