MemeCritique #1

Critiquing a Meme That Reframes Identity Around Self-Perception

Meme number one. Now this first meme was presented on a Facebook group that I joined a while back. It's the seed that planted the idea for this episode. The meme was posted in the group by a member who had taken the time and effort to discern it making some beautifully formed arguments that this member gave me permission to share on this podcast.

I have taken her main points and elaborated a bit more with my own and some scripture. Now dear friend, you know who you are and I thank you and God for your discernment work.

On this.

Please keep fighting the good fight and may God bless you. So this meme says, quote, start seeing yourself as the strong, talented, loving, caring, wise, intuitive, beautiful person that Jesus sees, end quote.

Why Self-Exaltation Conflicts with Christ's View of Us

So, first point, it can be presumptuous, I think, to claim to know what Jesus sees and that the supposed answer is just how great I am. This presumption can and does lead into point two. The claim that Jesus sees us as strong, talented, loving, caring, wise, intuitive, beautiful people denies what he himself reveals to us in scripture, that we are sinful creatures with a nature that sin against him who is the truth, John 14, 6.

Our strength, Psalm 28, 78, is love, 1 John 4, 8, perfect wisdom, Colossians 2, 3, and transcendent beauty, Psalm 52. That is God himself. We are not the standard of good, and in fact, none seeks after God, Romans 3, 11.

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God, that was Romans 8, 5 -7. Jesus, God in flesh, is not pleased with those who set their minds on things of the flesh.

Denying Self and Following Christ

You can be strong, talented, loving, caring, wise, intuitive, and a beautiful person by the flesh and the world standard, but these mean nothing to Jesus if we do not set our mind on the spirit and submit ourselves to God's law.

Christ makes very clear what is important, and it is not what we or other people believe about ourselves, neither is it even what we believe he believes about us, but what we and the world believe about him.

In Mark 8, 34 -38, Jesus tells us, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

We are called to deny ourselves. That includes whatever great thoughts we have regarding ourselves, and instead are called to lay ourselves down for his and the gospels' sake. What we believe about Christ is what matters in regards to eternity and our souls.

Whether we trust and honor him or deny and are ashamed of him, that's what is important to Christ. Colossians 3, 2 tells us to set our minds on the things that are above, godly things, and not the things that are on earth.

This includes ourselves. So this leads to point 3, that we are nothing without Christ, Romans 7, 15 -25 and John 15, 5. If we are to boast, it should be in the Lord and his works and his character. For consider your calling, brothers.

Not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1, 26 -31. We do not boast of our works, our traits, or our talents, as everything we have is because God has graciously gifted it to us, James 1, 15 -18. The fourth point is that this is at odds with the idea of death to self, more of him and less of me.

The Law, Sin, and Our Need for the Cross

The more we focus and come to know Christ, the more we come to realize and know our true need for him. This is why God gave the law. Man's duty to God is to assess his soul by looking at the law and seeing his sin and know that he is guilty, Romans 3, 19 -20.

The more we see our sins, who we truly are by nature, the more we cry out to God and look to the cross. You can say, oh, I'm so this and that, and that's how Jesus sees me, but none of that will allow you to stand alone before God.

Only in being covered in the blood and the beauty that is Christ can you enter the kingdom of heaven. And the fifth issue is this, that this leads to an inaccurate assessment of one's walk with Christ.

Do you think this way of thinking pushes one to seek after Christ with a sense of urgency or desperation?

No.

It encourages the fuzzy feels and sounds very much like, you're perfect just as you are, which translate into not needing a savior or needing saving, which is not true for anyone. Only in realizing the severity of my sins, how contrary they are to the heart of God, that without him, I would be deserving of any wrath he determined for me for rejecting him.

Do I come to know the Lord and appreciate his mercy and forgiveness? If there's anything good or beautiful in me, it's because of him. If there is any righteous way in me, that righteousness is imputed to me because of who Christ is, not because of any decisions I made or didn't make, words I said or didn't say, etc.

The credit belongs to Christ. Of all the traits listed, my sister in Christ who posted her reply to this meme states that wise is the one that bothered her the most, as it reminded her of Romans 1 .22, claiming to be wise, they became fools.

Not only that, but James 1 .5 makes it plain that God is generous to give wisdom to all who ask of him, that it is not possible to be wise outside of God, and I believe this is an excellent point. She ends her post with this statement that I will quote from her post as it is a God-glorifying way to end this meme critique.

God's Love, Repentance, and a Christ-Centered Response

Quote, God's love is so vast and multifaceted. There are many ways in which he demonstrates his love to us, but I think one way we can grow our love for him is to realize we are very unlike him. Romans 5 .8, consider who we were before we were saved, the depravity and deception we were living in, and the healing, grace, and forgiveness he extends to us when he made himself known to us.

I mean, 2 Timothy 2 .25 even says that God grants repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth. Consider even the sin we may still struggle with and are reliant on God to overcome. Every day. We serve an amazing and perfect God.

Let us always keep our focus and affections on him and not ourselves. End quote. Amen, sister.

Amen.

Amen.