I love Scripture. God’s Word always has a way of humbling me. My pride often gets the best of me and today I was struck in the face with Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:1-3:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. -ESV

I was once dead in my sins. I was once a child of wrath. I was once following after the things of this world which would lead to my ultimate destruction. I was once living in the flesh not giving two cents about God. Then God saved me.

I became a child of God. I became a sinner saved by grace. I became righteous through the blood of Christ. Sometimes I forget that the ‘rest of mankind’ is exactly how I was. We are all sinners and we are all in need of God’s grace. What my pride says is, “I am better than you,” when my standing before God has nothing to do with me. My standing before God has everything to do with God. When I am reminded of this I always come back to reality. Charles Spurgeon had a great grasp on this as well, when he spoke these words:

Oh! man, learn to reject pride, seeing that thou hast no reason for it; whatever thou art, thou hast nothing to make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor. Consider thine origin; look back to the hole of the pit whence thou wast digged. Consider what thou wouldst have been, even now, if it were not for Divine grace. And, consider, that thou will yet be lost in hell if grace does not hold thee up. Consider that amongst the damned, there are none that would have been more damned than thyself, if grace had not kept thee from destruction. Let this consideration humble thee, that thou hast nought whereon to ground thy pride. -Sermon No. 97, August 17, 1856

May God’s greatness cause us to lose our pride.

Thanks for reading.