When Something Is Nothing Series

Some people, probably most people, and maybe all people have to

learn how to be humble the hard way, and that is the humpty

dumpty way of having a great fall. This was the case with Max

Eastman. A film was being made on the life of Christ, and he

happened to meet the well known woman photographer working on

that film, who was Alice Baughton. Shortly after this meeting he

received a note asking if he would consent to pose with Walter

Hampden, the man playing the role of Christ, in one of the miracle

scenes. He was so proud of getting such an offer after just a casual

meeting, that he could not help but brag. A thing like that couldn't

just happen, he must have something on the ball. He said to his

mother who was visiting at the time, "See what it is to be a beauty. I

just knock them cold at the first sight." When he returned from the

studio, however, his glow had turned to gloom. "What did you pose

for?" Was the eager question of the family. Meekly he replied, "The

corpse of Lazarus."

Lazarus was certainly not an unimportant role to play, even as a

corpse, but it hardly justified his boast of superior beauty. Had he

not opened his mouth, there could only be merit in getting any part

at all, but he did, and proved the saying true, "An ounce of vanity

spoils a hundred weight of merit." He thought too highly of himself.

He was like the man whose wife said to him as they left the party,

"Has anyone ever told you how marvelous you are?" "No, I don't

believe they have," he said. "Well then," she continued, "Where in

the world did you ever get the idea?"

The idea comes natural, for the one thing most all people have in

common is their loyal love of themselves. E. W. Howe said, "When a

man tries himself, the verdict is usually in his favor."

Subconsciously, if not consciously, all men tend to make themselves

the center of the universe. Each of us is, to a lesser or greater degree,

an I specialist. I read of a printing company that had to postpone the

publication of a Bishop's autobiography because they ran out of

capital I's. Pope wrote in his essay on man-

Ask for what end the heavenly bodies shine,

Earth for whose use, -Pride answers,-Tis for mine;

For me kind nature wakes her genial power,

Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flower;

Seas role to waft me, suns to light me rise;

My foot stool earth, my canopy the skies.

There is a touch of truth even in this self-centeredness, for man

alone was made by God with the capacity to appreciate and enjoy the

order and beauty of His creation, and man was given dominion over

creation. But man fell, like Satan, because of pride, and is now, as

Pascal put it, both the glory and the scum of the universe. He still

has some basis for pride, but so much more for humility and shame.

Abraham Lincoln's favorite hymn by William Knox put it this way-

Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?

Like a swift-flitting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,

A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,

He passeth from life to his rest in the grave.

Man is in a strange predicament, caught between his own dignity

and depravity; his own worth, and his wickedness. The result is

another great paradox of life. Man's self-love is both an evil and a

good. It is both an essential for a happy life in God's will, and the

main cause for most evil that is out of God's will. Paul in this great

chapter on paradoxes deals with both sides of pride.

In verse 3, he deals with that kind of pride which makes a man

think himself to be something when he is nothing. In verse 4, he

deals with that kind of pride which is an honest recognition of one's

worth before God. The border line between these two is so close, and

so poorly defined, that one can every easily slip over into exhibiting

evil pride when he thinks he is being rightfully humble. This makes

pride a very dangerous area that Satan takes advantage of. Ruskin

said, "In general pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes!" This is

true of sin as well.

The Old Testament says so much about the evil and folly of pride

we cannot even begin to cover it. The New Testament is sufficient to

establish it as one of the worse evils of the human heart. Jesus lists it

as one of the major evils that proceed from the heart in Mark 7:22.