He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered. (Proverbs 28:26, NASB)
All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. (Proverbs 16:2)
Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. (Proverbs 26:5)
The game has ended and the microphone near the lips of the athlete is poised to record an explanation for the awesome performance just witnessed. The star pulls himself up to his full stature and explains, “I just believed in myself.”
The daytime TV talk show host is casting her pearls of wisdom before millions of viewers and gives her solution to life’s most vexing issues: “You just have to follow your heart. Follow your inner guide.”
The premise underlying these gems is that in the center or heart of every person is the innate capability to achieve any goal or vision…without any outside insight, aid, or assistance. Success is merely a matter of self-belief and tracking the intents and desires of one’s heart.
It is hard to imagine a philosophy more alien to the teaching of the Bible or to Solomon’s wisdom literature. In at least a hundred passages, the teaching is established that the “inner guide” we have without God (1) is marked by stupidity/folly, (2) is typified by self-delusion, and (3) will lead us to catastrophic consequences.
Principle: Unaided by outside wisdom and divine revelation, your “inner guide” will get you more lost than you already are.
Why is this so? Why is “believing in ourselves” not a successful way to live? One very simple reason: human beings have incredible powers of rationalization and self-delusion. Proverbs nails it with the word that “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him.” This spiritual disease of the intellect is not just chronic but terminal.
Principle: The most powerful delusion a person can entertain is that he does not commonly delude himself…in the direction of self-justification.
Finally, believing in oneself—to the exclusion of God and others who teach, support, and enable us—is really a perverse overestimation of both our human character and capacity. The prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Jesus clarified this issue with His statement, “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). He knew the moral, intellectual, and spiritual impotence of human beings.
Principle: Claiming to be a “self-made person” whose success comes from “believing in oneself” is a slap in the face to the Creator who gave us talent and provided friends and family to nurture and encourage us along the way.
How much better the wise, faith-focused athlete who breathes into the microphone, “I thank my heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ for giving me the talent and the opportunity to excel.”
[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]