Well, maybe not!!
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary does not have the word ego, but does define egotist as: “One who repeats the word I very often in conversation or writing; one who speaks much of himself, or magnifies his own achievements; one who makes himself the hero of every tale.”
The online dictionary defines ego as: “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.”, and gives the following synonyms: self-worth, self-respect, and self-conceit.
But God does not promote the glorification of our ego, but exhorts us to “walk humbly” with Him, according to Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
It is good for us to walk in humility.
The online dictionary defines humility as: “a modest or low view of one’s own importance;”, and the 1828 Dictionary defines it as: “In ethics, freedom from pride and arrogance; humbleness of mind; a modest estimate of one’s own worth. In theology, humility consists in lowliness of mind; a deep sense of one’s own unworthiness in the sight of God, self-abasement, penitence for sin, and submission to the divine will.”
Proverbs 15:33 states: “The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.”, and the Apostle Paul provides us with a glimpse of walking humbly with God in Acts 20:19: “I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.”
Let’s make this personal and challenging for ourselves. These are some questions I’ve been asking myself as I’ve been dealing with my own ego:
Do I feel the need to have the conversation with others focus on me?
How might my actions towards others be influenced by the benefit to me?
How do I respond when others don’t show appreciation for me, and what I do for them?
Can I sit in the background in a group, and be content?
Can I trust God to encourage me, rather than needing my ego to be stroked by people?
When I answer these questions honestly, I realize that God has so much more work to do in my heart!
I want to walk humbly with Him. I want to exalt Him, not me. After all, the good in me is ALL because of HIM, and not because of me. He created me. He gifted me with talents and abilities. He is the One who deserves to be exalted. My brain works because He created it and manages its function. My ability to breathe comes from Him, the supplier of our air. I owe EVERYTHING to HIM!
Since God is the One who supplies all of this, and everything else we need, how could I possibly think that I should have my ego stroked? My ego, aka my pride, needs to be diminished, so that God is increasingly exalted in my life.
I realize that when I talk about God, and give Him credit in everything, I am bearing witness to His amazing greatness, and that is what He created me to do!
God did not create me to exalt me. Dealing with my pride is a lifelong struggle. But God can help me put my ego in check, so that it is exalting me less, and Him more.
I think the statement: “It is not all about you” applies! Life is not all about me…it IS ALL ABOUT GOD!
The more I have that thinking in place, the greater I experience the peace of God, because I have peace with God through the Lord Jesus.
Now realistically, there are times when we need to share with others how God has equipped us and how He utilizes us to serve Him. The Apostle Paul did this in these verses:
2 Corinthians 11:16-18: “I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.”
Philippians 3:1-11: Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.’”
Paul understood that His confidence didn’t come from the flesh – his abilities – but God supplied his abilities. He recognized there was nothing he could do to earn His salvation, but God provided Jesus, His perfect Redeemer!
Let’s look again at the online definition of egotist: “One who repeats the word I very often in conversation or writing; one who speaks much of himself, or magnifies his own achievements; one who makes himself the hero of every tale.”
As we consider this definition, it provides us with ways we can measure our ego:
Do we repeat “I” often in our conversations, texts, emails?
Do we speak more about ourselves than about God?
Do we encourage others to talk while we listen?
Do we magnify our own achievements more than give God the glory for working in and through us?
Do we make ourselves the hero, or exalt God as the Hero?
I pray you will join me in the pursuit of walking humbly with God, and not looking to exalt ourselves, or desire that others stroke our ego by patting us on the back, when we should be looking for God’s approval, honor, and commendation? John 12:26 states it this way: “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”
Please contact me at: ButGodCares@gmail.com to talk about walking humbly with our magnificent almighty God!
Living for Jesus, Donna
P.S. If this has helped you, please feel free to share it with others!
Note: If the verses for Bible references do not appear when you hover over them, go directly to the website, and they should appear for you.
Copyright 2023 Donna Shappy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other – without the prior permission of the author.