The pride of man is
insatiable. Untrained and unrestrained, we think of, and
speak of, none other than self. The Bible calls this
"vainglory" [kenodoxia] ...
literally: empty glory, self conceit.
"Let nothing be done through strife or
vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better
than themselves." Paul was not in some
fit of identity here, but had rather arrived at the profoundest
understanding. One glimpse of the real us against the
backdrop of true GLORY will be the vanquish of all vainglory.
It is there we discover the CROSS-road of truth and mercy; and
there the brilliance of our LORD JESUS CHRIST snuffs out our
noxious candle of self. True glory knows only one OWNER,
thus David solves the
glory issue when he writes:
"WHO is this KING of glory? The LORD of hosts, HE is the KING of
glory. Selah." Hymn writer Isaac Watts, perhaps
said it best: "Alas, and did my SAVIOR bleed? and did
my SOVEREIGN die? Would HE devote that Sacred Head for
such a worm as I? ... At the Cross, at the Cross, where I first
saw the light..."
"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace
have kissed each other." At Calvary, the wrath
of GOD toward sin, became the peace of GOD toward men. Paul rightly understood
that every loyalty, save the cross of CHRIST, had to die.
"... by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
But beware beloved; mind, might, and money are formidable foes
to the Christian: "Thus saith the LORD,
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his
riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he
understandeth and knoweth ME, that I am the LORD ..."
At the judgment bar of CHRIST, HE may look us over for
scars; but don't count on any bonuses for all those medals of
men you're acquiring.
"To declare, I say, at
this time HIS righteousness: that HE might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in JESUS. Where is boasting then?
It is excluded."