To the thoughtful Chinese, many of our customs are strange and grotesque, for example—Imagine any civilized being attacking his food with a great knife, having a blade four or five inches long, then spearing it on a three or four-pronged spear, and sticking this savage looking weapon right into his mouth How much more peaceful and harmless, are two prettily carved ivory chopsticks, and even if they should be only bone or bamboo, they have none of the offensive qualities of our knives, and forks.
But of all our strange customs, perhaps none calls forth more contempt and disgust than our extraordinary habit of always writing about ourselves with a capital “I”. We are perfectly satisfied to address you, our readers, with a small “y” in the “you,” but I must be written with a capital. Now our Chinese neighbors, even our heathen neighbors, would not do a thing like this. When they must write of themselves, the character is written smaller—not larger—than the rest of the letter.
I have wondered if we Christians might not do well to stop and consider whether their views of the matter may not have some justification. The Word says,
“He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory.”
But to speak of oneself with a capital “I” does seem to be even worse. I am afraid that our Chinese neighbors believe that it is a clear demonstration of the pride which marks us nearly all. Pride of race, pride of education, pride of birth, pride of color, pride of religion, pride of sanctity. Pride of anything.
“I am rich, or wise, or holy,
Thus and thus am I!”
I am a little inclined to fear that we English-speaking people are the proudest of all people, though we excuse ourselves by frankly stating that we have the most to be proud of. I wonder if the truth of the matter is not that we have the most to be ashamed of—to have had so much committed to us, and to have failed so miserably.
Have you ever noticed the middle letter of the English word PRIDE? I have wondered whether it is altogether an accident that right in the heart of pride, I find I, myself. May it not be that the Lord is seeking in that very word to say to us English-speaking people; Beware, there is that I putting itself in the midst again. We call it “Self-centered,” and look on it as a slight failing—but may it not be one of those things which are “an abomination” unto the Lord? (Prov. 6:16, 1716These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (Proverbs 6:16‑17).)
A good many years ago a friend remarked, “The Word says, ‘Only by Pride Cometh Contention.’ It does not say ‘Sometimes by pride; or, Usually by pride cometh Contention’, No, the Word is clear, ‘Only by Pride Cometh Contention’,” and do not our contentions, and quarrels, and strife, and divisions, cry against us with a mighty voice as to our pride?
How often our thoughts, our words, our deeds, center round ourselves: I is the center of most of them: how often we boast, though we grow weary of hearing others boast. And yet, strange as it may seem, the Bible does give us liberty to boast, and even tells us that the humble (the ones who hate boasting most of all) shall hear, and be glad. But our boast in that case is not about I, but, “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord” (Psa. 34:22My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. (Psalm 34:2)), and turning to the New Testament we find that of which we may glory to all eternity:
True they were thieves on either side, but, O, beloved friends, if our eyes are filled with that sight, Jesus in the midst, even at the Cross, then pride, with I in the midst, will just wither up, and the sins and failings of those about, will not fill our eyes. And though, to all eternity, we will never weary of glorying in that Cross, we may turn our eyes upward from the Cross to the Throne, and there “in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain” (Rev. 5:66And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (Revelation 5:6)). Yes, whether at the Cross, or in the glory, the Lamb is in the midst. That is His rightful place, and how gladly by word of mouth do we accord it to Him! May we with equal gladness by walk and ways see to it that He, not I, is in the midst!
And, praise be to His Name, we need not wait till the glory to have Him in our midst. Even now, down here, He deigns to honor with His presence, the two or three who are gathered together in His Name. “There” the Lord says, “am I in the midst of them.” We would often substitute a man whom we can see, a doctrine, a creed, even the blessed Bible itself, anything rather than give the Lord Jesus Christ, His rightful place in the midst.
And we see Him again, in His bright glory in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, in Revelation 1:1313And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. (Revelation 1:13). We see that glorious One, with eyes as of a flame of fire, “who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,” and judges what is pleasing to Himself, and what He hates. O, may we heed Him more in this character and more earnestly crave His approval, seeking with all our hearts to keep His Word, and not deny His Name.
In all things He must have the preeminence. Let us each one see to it, that in every aspect of our lives it is “Not I, but Christ.”