You can't cosign your own loan

 This week's verse is 2 Corinthians 10:18:

For it is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person the Lord commends.

This verse is at the end of a long couple paragraphs from the apostle Paul, describing who is or is not qualified for ministry. People were nitpicking over this or that issue with different preachers, much as they do now. And the preachers themselves were doing it too. Each one had his own set of standards that he would use to justify why he was the greatest.

But Paul's perspective was that if you're doing that, all you're doing is making yourself out to be the model of perfection and then judging the world based on how much they are like you. It's backwards. Instead of measuring yourself against a set of standards, you're making a set of standards based on your measurements. In other words, you're playing God.

But even if we're not looking to market ourselves for ministry, we can still find ourselves playing that game. We find something we're good at, like managing our money, or putting on shows of politeness, and then we look down on anyone who doesn't do as well as us. And sometimes we even use it to reassure ourselves of our salvation. "Ah, well, I helped that homeless guy earlier, so I guess I'm safe for now. Not like those other people who walked on by."

In doing that, we're commending ourselves. We're writing a resume with all of the things we want to see about ourselves, for a position we're defined ourselves, putting our name down for all of the references and pretending it's God. We vouch for ourselves and assume everyone else would agree. We pat ourselves on the back and say "job well done," and play the ventriloquist.

What Paul is saying is that our justification and approval ultimately comes from God, not ourselves. Anyone can say "I have no sin," but it only matters when God says it. The same goes for any attestation of goodness. To say this person is better than that person, in any spiritual sense, is not our call to make.

To people who think they're the best, that's an infuriating thing to hear. But to the rest, all they can say is "Oh thank God." We don't decide who gets into heaven and who doesn't. We don't decide which of us is the greatest. God decides those things, and he likes us. That should be liberating to hear.

Next time you find yourself comparing other people to yourself, or arguing why this person is better than that person, remember this simple verse. It is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person the Lord commends.