It is the devil’s master-piece to make us think well of ourselves. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Imagine professing churches being taught how to study the Bible in a way that profanes the name of God and is in fact an idolatrous action, but being told that it is pleasing to God. That is precisely what is being done across this nation (and beyond). We are taught to study the Bible in a way that makes us think well of ourselves. We are taught to think of the study of the Bible as a spiritual discipline rather than a way of seeking God out of love for God. We study the Bible to gain knowledge rather than to know God. We study the Bible to defend our orthodox positions rather than to love God. We are taught to study the Bible in a way that promotes pride rather than a way that sends us as helpless sinners into the dust crying out for mercy.
The Bible is the Word of God and is the revelation of God. At the same time it is the revelation of man and the sinful nature of man which is seen in the light of the holiness of God. One reason that human beings want to twist the truth about God is because it enables them to twist the truth about themselves. In the study of Scripture, then, we see that principle at work. We must twist the teaching of the Bible regarding our own hearts or we must repent in order for God to change us. The human heart is for full of deceit and those deceitful twists and windings that it can deceive itself at any point using a multitude of methods of reasoning and motives. But in studying the Bible and twisting it to escape the truth rather than as a way of seeing more of God and His glory, that is an act of idolatry and is an act of hatred for God.
The Scriptures speak of men who loved the Law of the Lord and desired for true holiness. But if the devil has gotten his master-piece of thinking well of ourselves across, then people only love the Law of the Lord if it will make them feel good about themselves as well. They will flee from the truth of holiness and of the Lord because those things don’t make them feel good about themselves. When they do things like this, they will study the Bible but not in order to see and find the real God revealed, but in order to sustain their good feelings about themselves and perhaps to make them feel good about themselves. Again, when they do this it is nothing but an act of idolatry in taking what reveals God and suppressing that truth so that they can feel good about themselves in unrighteousness. In a sense, it is diabolical.
The study of the Bible can be nothing more than an act of pride. The deceived soul can study the Bible for the sake of nothing more than gaining more knowledge in order to feed its pride which is to make the self feel good about self. Oh how the soul that wants to defend its orthodox positions out of pride will give itself to study in order to do so. But this soul is studying to defend self, the honor of self, and the pride of self rather than out of love for God. This, once again, is nothing more than idolatry.
The study of the Bible can be nothing more than the acts of a disciplined person seeking to be righteous in his or her own eyes. It can be a person trying to earn some form of righteousness by the act of study or it can be a person wanting to appear righteous in his or her own eyes because of the study. It can also be a person wanting to know more about God in order to appear righteous, which sure seems to be a particularly egregious sin. Oh how wicked the human heart is when it is driven by a desire to feel good about itself. That can be a root of self-righteousness and pride. It is also an idolatrous desire for self rather than for Christ.
God Loves... Himself 
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