Part I - No Need to Justify Myself

On of my favorite Pearls before Swine comics made a great comment related to self justification.

(since I can't buy the rights-just imagine the pictures)
Rat:"Do you think bad things happen to you for a reason?"
Pig:"Yes, I do."
Pig:"It's because I'm stupid..."

When we consider all of the bad things that happen in the world, and all of the injustice in the world we always try to blame someone else. More amazing than blaming other people, we blame God for bad things that happen in our lives. The one I never could really fathom is when people die or contract serious diseases and we explain how God is teaching them a lesson, or he wanted them to go home early. Now, I'm not going to go indepth about all of the reasons I think we shouldn't blame God for bad things that happen in our lives, this is not a blog about theology, or at least it did not start out that way.

But when Jesus came to world, he healed people and did good and said he came to "destroy the works of the devil". Besides that, there were several times that he pointed out that a person's actions or attitudes may have led to the bad situation that they were in. These are the main two reasons I see for evil in the world:

1. Satan-The Devil-is described as the "God of this World"-he has some power in this world to cause evil and suffering.
2. People's sinful actions cause death and suffering("The Wages of sin is death")

The good news is that when we acknowledge and repent of the evil in us, and have faith in the power of the God's word, it is possible to overcome the power of evil.

I don't remember who it was who said it, but I remember a famous evangelist said. "I am convinced that God is able to do no good unless someone on earth prays and asks him to."

So you are saying, "Ok...what does this have to do with self-justification or working in a call center?" This is the connection, no matter what you do in life, you can't base your identity solely on what you percieve as your goodness, your sterling character, and your marvelous skills. When you do, you are setting yourself up for a psychological fall. It is said that reality is purely a mental construct of societal expectations and norms. Basing all that you are on this mental construct on your percieved goodness and skills is like living in an untethered mobile home in Kansas. Somewhere along the way, life is going to send a tornado of adversity that will scatter your prideful aluminum reality 10 miles in every direction and you will be left cowering in your underwear under your 1974 lime green Pinto hoping you survive.

I said all of that to make this point. Who you perceive yourself to be needs to have a foundation based on something other that your deeds and actions. Instead, it needs be based on something that won't change. In my life the unconditional love of God is the anchor that fixes my reality. Without this kind of foundation, you will never be confident in who you are and always be trying to justify everything you do.