A high esteem of yourself?
(Charles Spurgeon)
A high esteem of yourself?
You are not a mature Christian, if you have a high esteem of yourself.
He who boasts in himself is but a babe in Christ-if indeed he is in Christ at all.
Young Christians may think much of themselves.
Growing Christians think themselves nothing.
Mature Christians know that they are less than nothing.
The more holy we are, the more we mourn our infirmities, and the humbler is our estimate of ourselves.
"Though I am nothing." 2 Corinthians 12:11
"Although I am less than the least of all God's people . . ." Ephesians 3:8
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst." 1 Timothy 1:15
Wonderful was the grace that taught the once proud Pharisee thus to speak!
Pride may be set down as "the sin" of human nature.
The demon of pride was born with us-and it will not die one hour before us!
We are never so much in danger of being proud-as when we think we are humble.
There is no sin into which the heart of man so easily falls as pride-and yet there is no more vice which is more frequently, more emphatically, and more eloquently condemned in Scripture.
We are all proud. Pride can hide under a beggar's rags-as well as under a minister's robes. Pride is a weed that will grow on a dunghill-as well as in a palace garden; but it ought never to be allowed to grow in the heart of a Christian!
No matter how dear you are to God-if pride is harbored in your heart, He will whip it out of you!