Resources/Articles
Self-Justification
The New Testament is constantly up-to-date. It has proven time and again that the nature and attitudes of mankind simply have not changed. Consider the account of Luke 10:25-29. A lawyer asked the question, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus turned the question back to the man so that the lawyer might be “enlightened.” When the lawyer said that man should love God and his neighbor, the Lord answered him, “This do and you shall live.” The insincerity of the man’s question was revealed in the following verse: “But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”
If we would devote as much thought toward spiritual service as we do to self-justification and the manufacturing of excuses, our potential would be limitless. Rather than recognizing the task before us and getting about the business of accomplishing it, we vainly try to make allowances for our deficit thinking and performance. Often, one spends more time in the attempt to justify himself for a failure to perform a task than it would take to actually do the work.
“Willing to justify” a lust for prominence, power, and praise, a man may speak of his profound intellect and broad experience. Oh, he may never do so in boastful terms or ambitious claims. Instead, the words are subtle and with an air of seeming embarrassment. The naive are deceived. God Almighty and the spiritually mature have seen this ploy before and are not impressed. The thirst to dominate is a very repulsive thing. Its fruit is dissension. Its end is disappointment, both for the protagonist who must live with unrequited and ungodly lust, and his followers who inevitably become disillusioned with unending tension and turmoil.
“Willing to justify himself,” a man may claim that he would love to aid the work, but is just “too busy” to accept any further responsibility. Yes, he is too busy if that is the case. People do have a host of secular obligations which must be fulfilled. If our priorities are not properly aligned, if Christ has been relegated to the back seat of our lives, and if our influence for good is destroyed by materialistic ambition, then we suffer spiritually as does the church of which we are members.
A family “willing to justify” themselves explained to me that they just cannot attend services. They said their children do not seem interested in religion. What is the source of this disinterest? Does it not spring from a lethargic, indifferent, and callous attitude observed in their parents? Let us be consistent in this matter. A child in the second grade comes home from school and announces he is no longer interested in education. Will the parents take this in stride, announce it to be fine, and permit their child to follow a course of secular ignorance? Surely not! Spare me, please.
A carful analysis discloses one of the fundamental differences between the sincere child of God and the hypocrite. It is the attitude manifested toward faults and shortcomings. The hypocrite is always ready to “justify himself.” The sincere Christian recognizes his fault, confesses, seeks forgiveness, and makes a change in his life. In which category do you belong?
