Self-Idolatry

Perhaps the greatest form of idolatry in my context is not of a statue but of myself.

I would suggest to you that me, myself, and I are the great gods of contemporary culture.

(But perhaps in your country or context, there is a different primary idol. This takes discernment!)

What I've noticed is that this idolatry of self can also mask itself as spiritual service. For instance, Eugene Peterson - quoted by Beale in the book I mentioned already - diagnoses how this looks:

"We've all met a certain type of spiritual person. She's a wonderful person. She loves the Lord. She prays and reads the Bible all the time. But all she thinks about is herself. She's not a selfish person. But she's always at the center of everything she's doing. 'How can I witness better? How can I do this better? How can I take care of this person's problem better?' It's me, me, me disguised in a way that is difficult to see because her spiritual talk disarms us."

Beale himself explains the problem like this: "when people put themselves at the center of all things, they reflect a greater image of themselves by artificially inflating themselves."

So let's pause and take a moment to consider how we focus on ourselves.

I trust you are already an expert on your self-perception of yourself. However, it's often become so normal for us to be self-absorbed that we need the prompt to reflect on this attitude.

And to be clear: the goal is not to hate ourselves. Rather, it is to know and value ourselves in light of knowing and loving our altogether lovely God.