Pride shows itself every hour of every day. What long and undisturbed possession does self-complacency hold of my heart! What plans, dreams, and visions of futurity fill my imagination every day in which self is the prominent object! Oh Lord, now that so few things without happen to me to humble my soul, let thy Spirit secretly teach me what I am.
– Henry Martyn, October 20, 1803
This journal entry a few years before sailing to India from England is a small glimpse into the thoughts of a man mightily used by God in translating the New Testament into Persian.
I think we can conclude that God’s Spirit did teach Henry, and because of that, Henry taught others through his life and efforts to reach the lost.
We, like Henry, possess undisturbed self-complacency of heart with regards to pride. Likewise, VCCA students need the Spirit to secretly teach them what they are to bring about godly humility. Are my plans, dreams and visions of the future focused on ME… ME… ME? Or GOD… GOD… GOD?
Remember, ‘as thou desirest the love of God and man, beware of pride. It is a tumor in the mind, that breaks and ruins all thine actions; a worm in thy treasury, that eats and ruins thine estate. It loves no man, and is beloved of none; it disparages another’s virtues by detraction, and thine own vainglory. It is the friend of the flatterer, the mother of envy, the nurse of fury, the sin of devils, the devil of mankind. It hates superiors, scorns inferiors, and owns no equal. In short, till thou hate it, God hates thee. Pride defeats its own end, by bringing man who seeks esteem and reverence into contempt.’ – Bolingbroke
Repenting of the sin of pride ought to be a lifelong posture of the heart as we naturally overestimate ourselves and underestimate God. Obliviousness to this wicked sin should be our first clue to a lost estate.
