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Egocentricity is manifested in self-righteousness.
Self-righteous people believe they are less evil
than others. Self-righteousness, also known as
sanctimoniousness, sententiousness, and
holier-than-thou attitudes, is a sense of
(typically smug) moral superiority derived from
a view that one's ideas, behaviors, or connections
are of greater virtue than the average person's.
Self-righteous people are usually intolerant
of other people's beliefs and behaviour. They are
extremely confident in their righteousness or
moral superiority—they try to "lord" it over
others, unfairly dismissing them as weak and
dependent. They normally come across as someone
who is adamant about the correctness of his or
her own actions or ideas.
The more a person shouts about their religion,
the more likely it is a matter of pride, arrogance,
and self-righteousness.
Arrogant self-righteousness can lead a person
to believe that he "knows it all," that he
understands all, and that his judgment is perfect.
Solomon's advice here is that the righteousness
of the righteous must be accompanied by humility.
A person's virtue and righteousness run the risk
of generating intellectual and moral conceit in the
absence of humility.
Jesus warned the Pharisees
of hypocrisy.
They were bringing God into account in their
self-righteousness because they considered
His law was woefully inadequate.
The Pharisees added their self-righteousness to
God's written word through spoken and/or oral law,
a collection of rules and regulations established
by the minds of men spanning generations.
What a show of arrogance!
As Mark 7:6-9 demonstrates,
their desecration of the written rule
was not wise.
They were blinded by their
arrogant self-righteousness,
unable to see that, in their
desperate attempts to compensate
for what they saw to be God's
faults and the people's failures,
they were adding despair to
people's lives.
Their assessment of what God requires lacked
a correct sense of perspective about what
God requires.
An arrogant and self-righteous person may
conceive of themselves as important and assert
that they "know almost everything," understand
fully what is going on, and that their judgment
is factual.
They have an inflated sense of importance,
believe they are righteous in and of themselves,
believe they are superior to others, treat others
with contempt, are certain of their own
righteousness, exhibit pious self-assurance
showing an exaggerated awareness of their
own virtuousness and righteousness, have a
tendency to see the sins and faults of others,
can be very critical and dismissive of others,
believe they are always right, better, smarter,
or more important than other people.
People are turned off by arrogant and
self-righteous people who put others down,
are intolerant of other people's beliefs and
actions, and make others feel uncomfortable
and spiritually inferior. Their arrogant feeling
of self-importance overshadows their ability
to recognize their own unresolved issues.
Many arrogant and self-righteous people reject
criticism and don't seem to understand any
variation of their own argument... let alone
any overarching counter-argument of any kind.
As a result, arrogance might be described as a
type of delusion.
People who are self-righteous strive to appear
and sound virtuous. They desire that others see
and hear how righteous they are. It has nothing to
do with God's glory.
They are more concerned with the show... with
the external image. They display their excellent
works to gain acceptance and acclaim from
others. They desire to be treated in great respect,
to be seated in the best seats, and to be addressed
with pompous titles while completely ignoring
their inner conversion.
This is precisely what the
Scriptures tell us the Pharisees did.
In Matthew 23, Jesus chastised the scribes and
Pharisees, the epitome of self-righteousness, six
times for strictly adhering to their legalistic rituals,
openly wearing their righteousness visibly,
sounding the trumpets when they would give, fast,
and so on. They would make a public exhibition
of their goodness in order to appear more righteous
to others (Matthew 6:16, 3:8, 6:2).
Only the proud suffer from self-pity. Because of
excessive pride, arrogance breeds contempt for
others.
An arrogant individual is usually impolite and
enjoys offending people. They are incapable of
taking abuse, but they can be cruel and
condescending to others.
According to our findings, this type of arrogance
might be utilized as a coping mechanism by people
who are covertly insecure. Their uneasiness
masquerades as confidence, self-worth, or
self-importance.
Definition of Arrogance:
Arrogance is defined as an obnoxious way
of thinking or doing that stems from the belief
that you are better, smarter, or more important
than others.
Definition for
Self-righteousness
(also called sanctimoniousness, sententiousness,
and holier-than-thou attitudes):
A feeling or display of (usually smug) moral superiority
derived from a sense that one's beliefs, actions, or
affiliations are of greater virtue than those of the average
person.
Self righteousness literally means...
self-right.
The self-righteous can have or demonstrate
an inflated sense of their own significance, merit,
skill, and so on. They could be arrogant and
self-centered.
What a show of arrogance and lack of humility.
This is neither wisdom, nor is it righteousness.
If we ridicule individuals we regard to be
"sinners," or believe we are better than they are,
we are committing the sin of self-righteousness.
Some people's self-righteousness blinds them.
Some people are blinded by their
self-righteousness.
Jesus told a parable about those who "trusted in
themselves that they were righteous and
despised others" (Luke 18).
Jesus mentioned two men coming up to the temple
to pray, one of whom was a Pharisee and the other
a tax collector.
The Pharisee began by thanking God that he was
not like the sinners of society before listing his
own notable virtues.
The tax collector stood at a distance, his eyes
downcast, appealing for God's mercy and
admitting himself to be a sinner.
What is the conclusion?
The confessed sinner was acceptable before God,
but the self-righteous Pharisee was not.
Our righteous works, according to Isaiah,
are like filthy rags ( Isaiah 64:6 ). He was
discussing self-righteousness (the things we
do to try to make us right with God).
On the surface, self-righteousness appears
to be attractive. Some appear holy, yet they
just believe in themselves to be good enough
for God. They seek God based on their
righteousness and what they can do for God.
Nobody can be righteous based
on their own actions.
According to Scripture, God must become more
important, while we must become less important.
Self-righteousness breeds arrogance.
Solomon's wisdom reminds us that the goodness
of the righteous must be coupled with humility.
A person's goodness and righteousness run the
risk of generating intellectual and moral pride
in the absence of humbleness.
God's righteousness and
our self-righteousness are
totally opposite.
"God must increase,
but we must decrease."
John 3:30
God must become greater.
We must become less.
As God gains more honor, glory, and power,
our own significance decreases. He who comes
from above possesses considerably more
dignity and power. He is incomparably more
knowledgeable of the Divine Will, and He
surpasses all.
We are God's righteousness. What a tremendous
blessing it is to know how to set and how to rise...
cheerfully submitting to God's righteousness. We
must be willing to be regarded as nothing in order
to honor Christ... to be anything or nothing in
order for God to be all.
We will not have to rely on our actions to
please God. God is pleased with us because
we believe in Jesus.
May we continue to decrease and submit to
God's righteousness.
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