Here are three symptoms of this spiritual condition.
Pride
“Then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD” (Deut. 8:14). How much does pride really matter? Pride was the root of the first sin. It is the spirit that leads us to feel we don’t need God and we won’t have God. There was not very much pride in the desert, but there was a great deal of pride in Canaan. This is the besetting sin of successful and gifted people.
Presumption
“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth’” (Deut. 8:17). Notice Moses says, “You may say to yourself.” He is talking about a pattern of thought. You wouldn’t say this to anyone other than yourself, but you feel you deserve the credit for what you have achieved. And somehow, God is pushed to the margins. You feel the success was because of you, not Him. God seems increasingly remote.
Self-congratulation
Note the last two words of this verse, “…My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me” (Deut. 8:17, italics added). There was a time when these people felt life was about knowing God and fulfilling His purposes. Now life is summed up in two words: for me.
When you see pride, presumption, or self-congratulation in yourself, you can be sure you are dealing with a case of defective memory. When a doctor makes a diagnosis of your physical condition, he may write a prescription. The doctor will look at you earnestly and say, “Take this three times a day for four weeks.”
You won’t be better instantly. It will take time for what has been lacking to build up in your body. But if you take the medicine regularly, you will begin to notice some change. Nevertheless, your healing must start with diagnosis.
Do you see any of these symptoms in yourself?
