II Cor. 10:18 ... "It is not the man who commends himself that is accepted, but the man whom the Lord commends."
It is natural and common for a person, after he has accomplished something, to seek approval for it. Parents know how early this human trait begins, for their children constantly call their attention to the little things they make or do in their play. Teachers know how important it is to approve whenever possible the small achievements of their students, because these successes are necessary increments in the education process. To approve them encourages the student to further and greater efforts. In every area of adult life we look for approval for the things we do, and we glory when it is given in the form of compliments, awards, trophies, ceremonies, or public notices. All of this is well and good, for Rom. 13:7 teaches us to give "honor to whom honor is due." In the Bible we often read where recognition is given to those who had earned it.
Sometimes, however, we make the mistake of judging our own accomplishments and pronouncing them good, or even superior. Our mistake is the choice of using a faulty standard of measure. When it comes to assessing the merit of human endeavor, there are three standards available for use. One is the standard of human opinion, one is the standard of Divine revelation, and one is the standard of self-evaluation. The poorest and most inaccurate of these is the instrument of self-evaluation. In I Cor. 4:3-4 Paul stated, "I do not ... judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted." Few of us are able to see our faults in their reality. Most of them we tend to overlook. Even when we do detect them, we choose to minimize their extent and seriousness. In v.12 preceding the initial text, Paul wrote, "Not that we venture to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another, and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding." If one does not yield the evaluation of his efforts to an authority beyond himself, he will proceed with the delusion that all is great and wonderful when, in reality, his life may be flawed and bound for disaster.
The standard of human opinion is much better than the introspective personal measure, for we find it far easier to detect the errors in others than those within ourselves. Scotland's great poet Robert Burns referred to this when he wrote (phrased in present English):
"O would some power the Giver give us, to see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a wonder free us, and foolish notion."
But even this standard is often faulty, because as a people of the land we often have our cultural prejudices and common sins to which we are together blind. For example, a visitor to the United States from a radically different culture can see our characteristic faults clearly, whereas we cannot. We are so involved in them we do not recognize them. Similarly, in Mat. 23:24 Jesus said to the Pharisees, "You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!" Here was a great community of people who did not recognize their blindness because of their long adjustment to it. As they picked out the minor faults in others, they could not see the massive, glaring faults in themselves.
The only accurate instrument for measuring human endeavor is God's revelation to us, contained in the Bible. It fairly concedes our successes and signals our errors. The successes it praises to encourage their progress. The errors it condemns and counsels us to forsake them with all speed. In Jas. 1:25, as "the perfect law of liberty," it is symbolized as a mirror that shows us exactly as we are. Only when the Lord confers His approval on a person's life through this perfect standard is that person approved.
