Self-righteousness is where we presume we know more and deserve more. After all, we are better than that guy over there, right? But with one glance at the Cross, all self-anything is doomed. The image of Christ Jesus on the Cross shames our notions of superiority.
Life has a way of exposing the flaws in our own personal vanity. God sees to that!
We would never finish if we wanted constantly to sound the bottom of our own hearts, to know exactly where its desires and hopes would lead us. And in wanting to escape from self in the search for God, we would be too preoccupied with self while in such frequent examinations. Know that the abundance of His love will do more to correct you than all anxious self-contemplation ever could. We should often raise the heart toward God – He will purify it, enlighten it, direct it.
Also, we must not be surprised by temptations. We are only here below to be tested by temptations. Haven’t you noticed? Everything is temptation on earth. Our life is a continual combat, but a combat in which Christ Jesus fights for us and with us. We must let temptation rage around us, and yet not let it keep us from moving forward spiritually
In temptations, we must be faithful to the light within so that we can cut off all that we are at liberty to cut off – because it does not always depend on us to flee these occasions. Be turned toward God’s side in temptation, without being upset, without worrying as to whether or not we have given a half-consent to it, and without letting it block our direct approach to God. Don’t beat yourself up about falling or being in turmoil. The practice of the presence of God is a worthy pursuit and is the supreme remedy. It sustains. It comforts. It calms.
To renew ourselves in His presence, we simply raise our heart to Him – that is, worship Him in the depths of our heart – and offer Him what we are doing and what we are suffering. This practice is the true kingdom of God within us, which nothing can disturb.
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