Philippians 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

      The philosophy of self-actualization or self-realization, self-fulfillment, self-discovery, and self-exploration is the formula for all the pop-culture motivational speakers who are evangelizing the masses in the art of fulfilling all that we can be through our continual efforts of self-perfection. Although self-actualization is most often associated with Abraham Maslow, Kurt Goldstein coined the term. Maslow’s hierarchy chart of needs demonstrated that self-actualization is the pinnacle of achievement. Once we find who we are through self-actualization, we are now able to understand our life’s purpose. If this were the case, then why is the heart of man continually unsettled in the assurance of their existence? Hag. 1:9 “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.

      There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve oneself by living and looking for the full potential locked up within each of us. We need to rise above the mundane, that is the default setting of the human race. Reaching and achieving goals should be a strong desire within every person who has a pulse, but more importantly, rising to the reason for our creation is a far better desire to fulfill because God sets the standard for our potential. We need to seek who God says we are in His redemption plan of actualizing who Christ is in us, and who we are in Him. Matt. 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

      What gets lost in all this self-perfecting is that we can only become perfect in Christ, which is a gift of God, and nothing of our efforts can do what God did through Christ. There is no saving of ourselves; no matter the amount of Pharisutical law-keeping attempts we make. No matter how perfect we think we are, we will fall short of the perfection of God the Son. The deceptive subtlety that may come of this personal search for our perfection is an insidious suggestion that we can perfect ourselves and attain the consciousness of a god. This is false and dangerous because history demonstrates that when someone starts believing they are god-like, it is not long before the nations are dealing with another holocaust of evil.

       The Apostle Paul had incredible credentials and could boast of his self-actualized persona. He persecuted the church with the zeal of a zealot until Jesus met him on the road to Damascus. Paul himself says that all his achievements of self-perfection are nothing compared to knowing Christ. Phil. 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Paul had compared his achievements in the light of God’s grace to dung and should be chucked on the dung heap along with all the other nonsense that comes from a corrupt heart. The subtle problem with this self-perfection doctrine is that it is making its way into the church disguised as a way to save yourself from eternal judgment. Again, there is no saving ourselves from anything. Only God saves, and He is leading us through Christ to repent of our sins and accept the only sacrifice that is sufficient for God the Father.

      The church of the Laodiceans was becoming a victim of this belief. The people were no longer hot for a relationship with God but rather looking to perfect themselves with what they owned. Rev. 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. The Laodiceans had started to believe in their ability to meet all of their life’s needs without submitting to the Lordship of Christ. However, the clear rebuke from the Lord’s statement, expressing that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, made it clear that they had fallen away from the calling of the Lord. They were wrapped up in the selfishness of the world, and could not have said with conviction what Paul had once said. Phil. 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

      If a person is neither hot nor cold, then they have become lukewarm or neutral in their beliefs. Their thinking leans toward, “I am only hot for God if it prospers me, and I am cold towards Him if it takes away my rights to be and do what I want.” It seems that this kind of lukewarm is not workable in God’s eyes. Rev. 3:15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. If we are hot, God can move us along with His plan. If we are cold, God can reach down and fix what it is that is making us cold towards Him. Both are miracles because God is at work within us. However, just standing on the sidelines and self-actualizing one’s existence doesn’t give God much to work with. Therein is the flaw in self-actualization. We become so confident in ourselves that we become a spectator to what is going on around us and end up doing nothing of eternal worth. May those of us who have become cold grasp what Christ has for us, and those who are running hot continue growing in who Christ is within us, and who we are in Him, because Jesus is Lord.