Humanistic psychologist, Carl Rogers, was asked, "Why he gave his wife of many years, so little attention during the last months of her life as she was dying with a terminal disease?" He said, "I realized that it was necessary for MY survival to live MY life and that this must come first, even though Helen was so ill."

This is the very same philosophy Satan used to seduce Eve. It was a great big selfish ego trip. She was tempted with the thought of how delicious the forbidden fruit would be, how wise she would become and how glorious it would be to be a god. She never gave any thought to how evil it would be.

She was learning how to look out for herself. Her motivation was self interest and self satisfaction. She asserted herself and indulged. The humanist is telling us that these are virtues we need to incorporate into our lives if we are to be happy. We are being told that if anything goes wrong in our lives, it's not our fault. It's society's fault or it's some kind of a disease.

From many of our pulpits today we are hearing that our greatest need is to develop our self love and a stronger self image. We have gone way overboard with this hazardous teaching.

Low self esteem is not our greatest problem. Self centeredness and selfishness rank near the top of man's problems. Our greatest need is to die to our ego and to live a life that will glorify and please God.

Over the centuries our theology has been God centered. Today, tragically, it has become man centered. This will never produce the fruit of the Spirit. To live a Godly life we must come to the cross, be crucified with Christ and surrender our all to God. Be filled, not with ourselves, but with the Holy Spirit. Jesus must become Lord of our lives.

All of the positive thinking messages in the world will never meet our deepest need. Mankind is depraved and infected with the disease of sin. Only the blood of Christ will bring deliverance from our carnal self.

Recognizing our limitations and inadequacies is not all bad. It simply causes us to look to God for strength rather than to ourselves. When God called Moses, He said, "Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh?" He complained that he was slow of speech and incapable. God said, "I will be with you." These promises of God should give courage to anyone who feels inadequate.

Instead of seeking to overcome feelings of inferiority through humanistic methods, look away from yourself and look to God. Build your confidence in His never failing faithfulness rather than in yourself. As Christians our strength comes not from our ego but from God our Father. This is why Paul could say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."