Do jobs that involve sales and self-promotion affect our self perception with God?

3/13/13                   Al                      42

At a Dunkin’ Donuts a man named Al turned out to be a “wreck chaser” – a tow-truck operator who races to be first on an accident scene and compete for the towing jobs. Successful wreck chasers have to be slick-talking salesmen, willing to be pushy, to self-promote and win the trust of the accident victim even in the midst of their injuries and the shock of the accident – and Al had all the traits of a successful wreck chaser.

So when I asked if he thought he would go to heaven, I got all these finely honed skills focused on convincing me what a good person he was. Since I was talking about religion in public, Al assumed I was some sort of pastor or priest, and he told me everything he assumed I wanted to hear.

He began with the fact that he has recovered from a horrible traffic accident as proof of God’s favor, then went on to compare himself to his sin-filled life before the accident, the selfish and twisted people he had surrounded himself with in that former life, the corrupt members of a bad church experience he had, and the many criminal types he encounters daily on the streets as he chases after wrecks.

Compared to all these people, in Al's eyes he is a saint, and he spoke with complete conviction because he truly believes it all. Trying to get a word in edgewise, I did all I could to help him understand that the standard for comparison isn’t other people, but God’s holiness and His perfect law such as the Ten Commandments. Al would agree to this in theory, but immediately go back to wax eloquent about his self-perceived goodness.

Al's professional skills had helped him build a convincing argument, but I suspect he was almost a complete caricature of what most of us also do - only usually less conspicuously. We convince ourselves of our worth and value in God’s eyes. The truth is, Christ died for us while we were yet sinners – “God’s enemies” (Romans 5:10) – not because we were good people.

And this self-promoting tendency doesn't just disappear when we begin to follow Christ. 2 Cor. 3 tells us "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

God may be helping us grow in the right direction, but we aren't there yet! So I’m thankful that conversations with people like Al can help remind me to beware of that ever-present tendency toward selfish pride in my own heart, and I pray that he will see it in his own.