DUNAMIS_ SELF-RIGHTEOUS PART 2DUNAMIS_ SELF-RIGHTEOUS PART 2
Resilient Truths
Dr. Bell continues the teaching of being self-righteous as a child of God. The Pharisee talked about all of the works he had completed. The publican repented and received Christ for himself. She talks about how living sin free confirms that an individual...
38:01•4 May 2024
Self-Righteousness, Stormy Seasons and Who’s in Your Boat?
Episode Overview
- Self-righteousness starts with leaning on your own understanding and can grow into narcissistic, self-focused behaviour.
- Loving God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind leaves no space for selfishness or using others.
- Religious activity and status mean nothing if someone refuses to live by God’s commandments and walk in humility.
- It’s vital to discern when storms in life are linked to people you’ve allowed into your ‘boat’ and to know when to let them go.
- Personal hardship can become a place of learning, extra income creativity and deeper dependence on God rather than on people.
“Being self-righteous means we lean into our own understanding.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This instalment of Resilient Truths carries on Dr. Theresa M Bell’s raw and funny yet very straight-talking teaching on self-righteousness and what it looks like in everyday life. Speaking to people of faith who want a closer walk with God, she unpacks how “being self-righteous means we lean into our own understanding” and how pushing it to the extreme can slide into narcissism.
Using biblical examples like Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar, the Pharisee and the publican, and the prodigal son’s jealous brother, she shows how pride, selfishness and religious performance can quietly creep in, even while someone is busy doing church work. Dr. Bell keeps things practical and honest, tying Scripture to real life. She talks about leaders who “pimp the people”, the danger of exalting yourself, and how claiming to love God while refusing to keep His commandments is a contradiction.
Her comments on a well-known bishop’s fall are blunt but focused on separating the truth of God’s word from the failures of human vessels. The conversation turns deeply personal as she shares her own financial pressures, health worries and feeling “pimped” by constant setbacks, all while refusing to live in secret sin.
Through the story of Jonah and the mariners, she links this to relationships: some storms come because of who you’ve let into your boat, and sometimes “you either throw they behind over the boat or you get out of their ship.” With plenty of humour, family anecdotes and straight-up Bible teaching, this episode speaks to anyone in recovery who’s wrestling with pride, toxic relationships, or church hurt, and wondering whether their struggles are correction, calling, or both.
It might leave you asking: is there anyone in your life you need to lovingly but firmly toss overboard?
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