Contributor: Ryan Moffat, BS in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. Pastor of Vast Church.
“By the grace of God, I’m not where I should be, but I’m not where I was.”
“If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteous.”
There are two drastically different, yet equally dangerous errors that can quickly and relentlessly derail your recovery even before you had even begun:
#1- To think too highly of yourself
#2- To think too lowly of yourself
Let me explain….
Pride
The danger of thinking too highly of yourself is pride embodied by arrogance. This disposition personifies the attitude of “I am complete, I am strong, I need nothing or no one.” Such an arrogant perspective masks all of it’s weakness in “PERSONAS OF STRENGTH”.
Personas are a way of artificially relating to God, yourself and others to guard against what you most fear and gain what you most want.
Those who think too highly of themselves constantly push others down to maintain the lead position that they’ve worked so hard to achieve in their own mind.
Self-Pity
The danger of thinking too lowly of yourself is pride embodied by self-pity. This personification of pride is manifest by “self-condemnation”, “self-abasement”, “self-loathing” and other sins of self.
We tend to think that arrogance only manifests in “Chest pumping” and “Self-promotion” and we tend to forget that a deflated person is simply an overinflated person who has been popped.
So what is the way out of such a perilous condition? How can we escape the danger of either trap?
As usually true to the nature of following Jesus there is always a “creative third way”. Jesus says the way toward health, wholeness and recovery is simply to admit how broken you really are. Jesus said some crazy things like;
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”
Jesus flipped the conventional wisdom of wholeness on it’s head and he looked to the broken, the downcast, the burnt-out and said to them; “”You are the blessed ones.”
Jesus tells the tired, the worn out, the broken, the average, the failure and the outsider…”You are blessed when you simply admit you’re need for grace”
There is room for one more broken person at the table with Jesus!!
Community Discussion – Share your thoughts here!
Did you fall into the trap of thinking too lowly or too highly of yourself while working toward recovery? What helped you balance and correct your thinking of yourself?
About the Author: Ryan received his BS in Bible and Theology and a minor in counseling from Multnomah University. He has pastored students, families and is passionate about Christ-centered recovery and healing. He’s been married to his beautiful wife Michelle for 13 years and they enjoy raising four crazy, unique and special kids together. Ryan is the teaching pastor at Vast Church in Sisters, OR and is currently working on his Masters in Theology at Western Seminary in Portland, OR
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Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on December 21, 2015
Published on AddictionHope.com