Self Idolatry

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We are all familiar with Jesus’ words to the woman caught in adultery when He said, “Sin no more.” Did Jesus truly expect her to never sin again for the balance of her life? Does our God expect us to be without sin in our life? Is this an unattainable standard? Have we set a goal too lofty to achieve? Are we destined to fail? Does God see us as failures? Let’s take a deeper look. Please read more…..

In John 8:11, the woman is clearly admonished during her saving encounter with Jesus not to return to “that sin.” Without doubt He was telling her not to persist in a life of adultery.

Now please allow me to pose a perplexing question: Were Jesus’s words, “sin no more,” also a command to her to live a life of perfection? Was He telling her that she had to live a life from that day forward absent of sin? Would that have been possible for her then and is that possible for you and me now? Is living life without sin feasible? If our focus in life is all about refraining from sin, are we putting our salvation in our own hands, rather than in the merciful embrace of our Savior’s hands? Is Jesus our savior or have we decided to try to save ourselves? Have our actions turned to a form of self-idolatry?

In Luke 18:11-14 we read the account of the Pharisee who so proudly boasted that he was without sin and that he was devout in his religious practices. His story is juxtaposition to the story of the tax collector, who acknowledged his sin and beat his breast and begged God for mercy. The Bible tells us that it was the tax collector not the Pharisee who left justified. We are told that he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Has our pursuit of perfectionism become a form of self-worship? Have we become too religiously and myopically focused on the avoidance of sin while at the same time ignoring the call to do the good works God calls us to do? Are we sharing the news of Jesus Christ with others? Are we feeding the hungry, visiting the imprisoned, clothing the naked and helping the downtrodden? In Matthew 25:31-42 we are given a foretaste of judgement day. The sheep and goats are separated based on what they failed to do. Jesus states this: “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me. And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Have we become so caught up in the words “sin no more” that we have missed the bigger point? This woman had a personal encounter with Jesus and as a result her life was undoubtedly changed. Was she able to remain sinless thereafter? I highly doubt it. Did her future sins impact her differently? I am sure they did. What she took away from this encounter was the knowledge of a merciful and forgiving God. When she fell short again in life, and I assume she did, she once again had to trust in His mercy.

Where do you place your trust? Are you placing your trust in your human strength to overcome and avoid sin? Do you trust in you rather than placing your trust in the redemption that Christ won for you on the cross? We would be wise to never forget the words of Jesus from John 15:5: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”

Sadly, as Christians, we still stumble and fall. Sin manages to infiltrate our lives. Do we live in fear of a condemning God, or do we rejoice in the expiation of our sins on Calvary?

Do we wallow in self-condemnation every time we sin? Our pride and ego can easily cause us to believe that we can overcome our sinfulness on our own. This distorted thinking also tends to make us more critical when we observe sin in others. Perhaps this is why Jesus taught us to say “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Real joy in life comes when we accept that it is our Savior, Jesus Christ alone, who has made salvation possible. We must stop trusting in ourselves and rejoice in the reality that our inconceivable debt load has already been paid by our loving and merciful Lord.

Lastly, we need to do some deep introspection. We must ask ourselves if we have fallen prey to the hypocrisy of thinking that we have already, or will one day, earn our way into Heaven. This simply is not possible. Jesus and Jesus alone is the door to the Father. We live out our lives in the mystery and in our inability to fully comprehend the combined attributes of God’s mercy and justice. But although this remains a mystery, we must remain ever cautious not to trust in our own ability to obtain Heaven. To do so, is nothing short of self-idolatry.

I acknowledge my sinfulness Lord, and I place my trust in you. Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. Amen!

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Brian Pusateri

Brian is a Christian author and speaker. Brian, a lifelong Catholic, felt his life was forever changed when God spoke to his heart while attending an eight day silent Christian retreat in November of 2011. Soon after that retreat Brian founded 4th Day Letters and Broken Door Ministries. With the God inspired message of mercy and unconditional love that was placed on his heart during that retreat, Brian has been impacting others all over the country and around the world with his weekly letters, his talks, and his all day Christian retreats. In June of 2014, Brian’s life was again impacted in a very dramatic way when his eyesight suddenly became permanently impaired. The initial diagnosis was Multiple Scleroses (MS) but in December of 2019 the diagnosis was corrected to MOG antibody disease, a rare neurological disease. This health challenge has only served to draw Brian closer to God and bolster the importance of this timely yet ageless message.

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