The Legend of Faustus

DAILY BYTE

Do you remember the old story of Dr. Faustus? Well, Dr. Faustus became impatient with the limitations placed upon him in the study of law, medicine and theology. No matter how much he learned in these fields, he found that he was always in the service of something greater than himself – justice, healing or God.

Dr. Faustus chafed under this service and wanted out. So he made a pact with the devil, under which in terms of their agreement, he would live for the next 24 years in an all-powerful-like way. He would have no limits meaning he would be in control rather than in relationship, and he would exercise power rather than love. But after those 24 years were completed, he would then enter eternal damnation.

Eugene Peterson makes an interesting comment on this story:
“There have always been Faustian characters, people in the community who embarked on a way of arrogance and power; now our entire culture is Faustian.

We are caught up in a way of life that, instead of delighting in finding out the meaning of God and searching out the conditions in which human qualities can be realised, recklessly seeks ways to circumvent nature, arrogantly defies personal relationships and names God only in curses.

The legend of Faustus, useful for so long in pointing out the folly of a god-defying pride, now is practically unrecognisable because the assumptions of our whole society (our educational models, our economic expectations, even our popular religion) are Faustian.

It is difficult to recognise pride as a sin while it is held up on every side as a virtue, urged as profitable and rewarded as an achievement. What is described in Scripture as the basic sin, the sin of taking things into your own hands, being your own god, grabbing what is there while you can get it, is now described as basic wisdom: improve yourself by whatever means you are able; get ahead regardless of the price, take care of me first. For a limited time it works. But at the end the devil has his due. There is damnation.”

Can you see how important this is yet? Can you see how easily our own pride can hide from us? Can you see how easily we can deflect it onto others because ‘we are not like them,’ but all the while our own particular vanities hide from us, living in our hearts and twisting our souls.

Remember that it is the very nature of pride and vanity that make them so hard to acknowledge and own within ourselves (yet so easy to see and judge in others).

PRAY AS YOU GO

Loving God, we bring before you all those particular areas of pride, self-righteousness and vanity that we have identified over the last two days. We confess them to you, and we pray that you would cleanse and heal our hearts and souls from their taint. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE

Proverbs 16 : 18 (NIV)

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.