If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself Galatians 6:3). It is common for us to think that we are more important than we really are. There is a good test to see how important you really are; just put your finger into a glass of warm water and then pull it out, if it leaves a hole, then you are important, and you can’t be replaced. Solomon wrote, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Proverbs 26:12).
Paul wrote, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Romans 12:3). One of the most dangerous areas to be puffed up with is spiritual pride, especially when God has used you for some special purpose. We often think that God has used us because of something good in us, or because He knew we would be faithful, or that He could trust us, or that He knew we would do what was right, or we could handle it. When we think like this, it is nothing but spiritual pride.
When a person begins to think, “I am God’s special person of the hour,” they’re setting themselves up for a good fall. You would say, “But God spoke through me.” Well isn’t that glorious, He also spoke through Balaam’s donkey (Numbers 22:27-30), and we need to remember that lest we think we are something special because God spoke through us. It is so easy for men and women to get into this area of self-importance. Thinking that God needs “you” is foolish thinking, and you are only fooling yourself, and self-deception is one of the most dangerous things a person can do.
Then Paul says, “Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else” (Galatians 6:4). In this verse Paul is talking about the works that we do for the Lord, he says to put them to the test, to be honest with ourselves. Ask yourself, “When I seek to do some kind of charitable work, am I doing it for self-glory, or to impress someone else?” What is the real motive of our heart when we seek to work for the Lord?
There are a lot of things that we do, that on the surface, looks good and magnanimous. But when we really begin to probe our own heart, we often find that our real motivation is other than what is honorable and good. The motivation, many times, is for our own self-glory, that people might recognize and exalt us for what we have done. We might think that we know our own heart, but God says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9).
The vainglory of humans is such a powerful motivator that many of the good works that we do are for selfish purposes. Therefore we need to test ourselves, in order that we might have rejoicing of ourselves, and not of another. We should judge our own works, but not in comparison to somebody else’s. Not, “I gave more than he gave, I did more than they did.” We should let our judgement be, “Have I done my best, have I given my best?” Because it seems that no matter what we have done for the Lord, we always could have done more. We are not to judge or compare what we have done with what other people have done, because the gifts and calling of God to Christians are different (Romans 12:3-8).
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put to watch the crowd putting their money in the temple treasury. Many of the rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Jesus said to His disciples, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on” (Mark 12:41-44).
This would be like a billionaire giving 100 million dollars to a church, and all the church leaders praising this person for giving such a large amount. But along comes a farm worker that gives only a dollar, and no one even notices. The Lord sees the farm worker giving as much or more than the billionaire, because the farm worker gave money he needed, whereas the billionaire still has 900 million dollars left. We need to remember that the only thing that counts with the Lord is using what God has given us for His glory, not what He hasn’t given us (cf. Luke 12:48, 2 Corinthians 8:12).
There is the false saying out in the world, “Everyone is created equal,” but that is one of the biggest lies that’s being told to people. We are not born socially, mentally, physically or financially equal, we are all different. We should stop trying to compare ourselves with other people, because there will always be someone that looks worse, or better, than we look. God created you to be you, and not someone else.
Paul wrote, “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12). God does not grade on a curve, but only by His perfect standards—God does not compare Christians with each other. When we compare ourselves with other people it shows that we are being self-righteous bigots, trying to make ourselves look better by putting other people down—a shameful characteristic to get in the habit of doing.