Myself

In a consignment shop, I saw a painting of a young woman sitting cross-legged in a typical yoga pose. Transposed over the picture were these words:

I am myself.
I know myself.
I am a voice for myself.
I love myself.
I trust myself.
I am free with and around myself.
I am grounded within myself.

Nothing about God or others- it’s all about Self.

The following passages provide the needed corrective for the “New Age” Myself Mania so pandemic in our culture:

• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil” (Proverbs 3:5-7).
• “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Proverbs 26:12).
• “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).
• “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
• “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned . . . . Never be wise in your own sight” (Romans 12:3,16).
• “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

A Healthy Perspective

As has often been said, J-O-Y comes in this order: Jesus first, others second, yourself last. It’s how God designed it, and it works!