Sublime

If I could put one Bible verse on the desk of every pastor and every Christian leader in the world, it would be this: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

elf-deception, delusions of grandeur—these aren’t just annoying personality traits. Ego is more than just off-putting and obnoxious. Instead, it’s the sworn enemy of our ability to learn and grow.

“abhor flatterers as you would deceivers; for both, if trusted, injure those who trust them.”

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

Our personalities aren’t in the way of our fruitfulness; sin is.

Moreover, the celebrity’s apparent talent and relevant success teach him to do the things he must not do: to trust himself, to believe that he is a person of virtue, to believe that he is important. This is particularly dangerous when talent and success almost always create both opportunity and motive for serious sin.

Nothing kills pride like humility

You pray to stay alive, to get help in dealing with your grandiosity.

that they are not asham’d to sin, and yet are asham’d to repent; not asham’d of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are asham’d of the returning, which only can make them be esteem’d wise men.