Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

A Haughty Self

(?)

THERE'S NOTHING MORE DISTASTEFUL than someone who is set on self-glossing—offering his résumé and list of achievements unsolicited to everyone in the room. I confess, when I’m around a person like that I start to feel my skin crawl. Often, that type of person cannot see beyond his own ego to recognize that he is part of the problem; blame is always shifted to someone else; he never sees the need to accept responsibility for the communication breakdown, the loss of his job, or the tension in his family. Totally unaware, he goes on his merry way oblivious to how much of a reproach he has become.

How much better to accept and embrace the apostle Paul’s timeless counsel:

Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. . . . Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

ROMANS 12:1–3

Now, that’s more like it, don’t you agree? Let His mind be in yours today—when you greet your children or address the employees who report to you, or as you move through the checkout line at the grocery store or talk to your server at the restaurant.

My friend and mentor, the late Howard Hendricks, put it best:

Lay low . . . and exalt Christ.