"Vain man would be wise." Job 11:12

In the Hebrew it is "Empty man!" Man is a proud
piece of flesh! He is apt to have a high opinion of
himself.

Such as view themselves in the flattering looking-glass
of self-love, appear bigger in their own eyes than they
are! They think their spark—is a sun! They think their
drop—is a sea!

That you may deny all high, supercilious thoughts
of yourselves, consider that self-conceit is a great sin.
Chrysostom calls it "the mother of hell." It is a kind of
idolatry, a self-worshiping. This should pull down the
plumes of pride and self-conceit!

"What makes you better than anyone else? What do you
have that God hasn't given you? And if all you have is
from God, why boast as though you have accomplished
something on your own?" 1 Corinthians 4:7

Consider that, whatever noble endowments you have,
are borrowed. What wise man would be proud of a
jewel which was lent to him? The moon has no cause
to be proud of her borrowed light.

Consider what a hell of sin you carry about you! Sin is
the accursed thing, Joshua 5:13. It is the quintessence
of evil. It was typified by the menstrual cloth, which
was the most unclean thing under the Law. This may
demolish all proud imaginations.

Grace can never thrive where pride and self-conceit grow.
As a body with cancer cannot thrive—so neither can the
soul thrive, which is cancered with pride and self-conceit.
A proud head—makes a barren heart!

A supercilious conceitedness is odious to God. The more
one values himself—the less God values him. Such as
have a high opinion of their own excellencies, are on the
fast track to eternal ruin! The Lord sometimes lets vain,
conceited people fall—not only foully, but finally! "The
doves," says Pliny, "take pride in their feathers, and in
their flying high. But they soar so high, that they are
prey to the hawk!" Just so, when men fly high in pride,
they become prey to the prince of the air!

All this should make us kill the worm of self-conceit!

Let Paul be our pattern. Though he was the chief of the
Apostles, he says, "I am less than the least of all God's
people." Ephesians 3:8. "I am nothing." 2 Corin. 12:11.
This illustrious Apostle, a star of the first magnitude,
shrank into nothing in his own eyes!

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CHRISTIAN