…to death.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

A chuckle escaped me when this first caught my eye.

Journals for Narcissists: 3 Pack! My Greatest Ideas, Quotes by Me, Stuff About Me that Resonates with Me.

Our minds immediately go to Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, or the Carly Simon hit, “You’re so Vain”, don’t they? Maybe we’ve been hurt by someone like this. However, if you’re the Narcissist, it wouldn’t come to mind to be personally offended by such a fun-poking product.

The thing is, most of us should feel a sting of conviction when reading this product description. I know I did.

Because of sin we are all susceptible to narcissism. The world and its media, psychology, and spiritual teachings (even in many churches), is telling us that the key to healing and success is greater self-love. See the Namaste soap? Namaste is a Hindu greeting that means “the divine in me honors to the divine in you”. Like satan himself, we are prone to wanting to be gods; the source of our own goodness.

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power . . .  ^“always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5, 7 English Standard Version

Who could deny that we’re in these last days? We are drowning in self-love.

However, if we are in Christ, this narcissism will not survive in us. Our God is faithful to discipline us and bring about the fruit of righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 

2 Timothy 3:14-17 ESV

We live in a time of great deception. May we be diligent in staying in the Word, letting the law weigh us down to the place of humility before the cross, for great is His mercy and love for us there! That Love alone brings freedom from self and the healing we need. His acceptance gives us confidence. May we look up to the cross and empty tomb daily, growing in our love for the God Who alone is worthy of our worship.

Text and picture by Jen Brukiewa