"The Spirit's fruit will not come from the barren soil of intellectual curiosity, far less the scorched earth of intellectual pride." - R.C. Sproul, Jr.
"Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." Proverbs 26:12 (NASB).if anyone looked at that verse and thought, "oh, well, that's not me", they missed the point.
everyone is wise in their own eyes, to an extent. why else is it so hard for me to get over myself? little insults or hints of naivety cut me to the quick and I go hot and cold with a mixture of indignant anger and utter humiliation.
how can God work in a heart so stiff and swollen? a sprained ankle or foot is so hot and inflamed, it's impossible to walk on. in its desperate attempt to nurse itself, the foot makes the simple acts of standing, walking, or simply crossing your feet painful and slow.
but that's the kind of heart we give Him. we become so swollen, obsessed with ourselves and how great our spiritual life is at the moment that the fruits of salvation seem to disappear from our lives.
they vanish. invisible.
obviously, this doesn't mean that the saved sinner and true believer is no longer saved.
the good news for the saved sinner is that God convicts them shortly after the prideful thoughts set in. I think I'm doing pretty good, being all holy an'at. then I say something tactless or snide, or I act like an idiot and get angry or argumentative about something trivial, and God brings me back to my knees.
the prick and sting of realizing when you've sinned (at the root of all is selfish pride) is truly a gift of grace from God. it's God pruning you, exchanging the rotting fruit of the flesh for the eternal fruit of the Spirit.
praise God! otherwise, we'd be no better off than the man wise in his own eyes.
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