Some prespective for a world bound in sin and thus turned in on itself as we all are who are born of woman.
"There is no glory in having a gift without knowing it. But to know only that you have it, without knowing that it is not of yourself that you have it, means self-glorying, but no true glory in God. And so the apostle says to men in such cases, ““What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” 1 Cor 4:7, showing that the guilt is not in glorying over a possession, but in glorying as though what one has had not been received. And rightly such glorying is called vain (empty) glory, since it has no the solid foundation in truth.
The apostle shows how to discern the true glory from the false, when he says, He that glories (boasts), let him glory in the Lord, that is, in the Truth, since our Lord is Truth (I Cor. 1.31; John 14.6).
We must know, then, what we are, and that it is not of ourselves that we are what we are. Unless we know this thoroughly, either we shall not glory at all, or our glorying will be vain. Finally, it is written, If you know not, go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock' (Cant. 1.8). And this is right. For man, being in honor, if he know not his own honor, may fitly be compared, because of such ignorance, to the beasts that perish. Not knowing himself as the creature that is distinguished from the irrational brutes by the possession of reason, he commences to be confounded with them because, ignorant of his own true glory which is within, he is led captive by his curiosity, and concerns himself with external, sensual things. So he is made to resemble the lower orders by not knowing that he has been more highly endowed than they.
We must be on our guard against this ignorance. We must not rank ourselves too low; and with still greater care we must see that we do not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, as happens when we foolishly impute to ourselves whatever good may be in us. But far more than either of these kinds of ignorance, we must hate and shun that presumption which would lead us to glory in goods not our own, knowing that they are not of ourselves but of God, and yet not fearing to rob God of the honor due unto Him. For mere ignorance, as in the first instance, does not glory at all; and mere wisdom, as in the second, while it has a kind of glory, yet does not glory in the Lord.
In the third evil case, however, man sins not in ignorance but deliberately, usurping the glory which belongs to God. And this arrogance is a more grievous and deadly fault than the ignorance of the second, since it condemns God, while the other knows Him not. Ignorance is brutal, arrogance is devilish. Pride only, the chief of all iniquities, can make us treat gifts as if they were rightful attributes of our nature, and, while receiving benefits, rob our Benefactor of His due glory.
Wherefore to dignity and wisdom we must add virtue, the proper fruit of them both. Virtue seeks and finds Him who is the Author and Giver of all good, and who must be in all things glorified; otherwise, one who knows what is right yet fails to perform it, will be beaten with many stripes (Luke 12.47). Why? you may ask. Because he has failed to put his knowledge to good effect, but rather has imagined mischief upon his bed (PS. 36.4); like a wicked servant, he has turned aside to seize the glory which, his own knowledge assured him, belonged only to his good Lord and Master. It is plain, therefore, that dignity without wisdom is useless and that wisdom without virtue is accursed. But when one possesses virtue, then wisdom and dignity are not dangerous but blessed.
Such a man calls on God and lauds Him, confessing from a full heart, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Your name be glory' (PS. 115.1). Which is to say, O Lord, we claim no knowledge, no distinction for ourselves; all is Thine, since from Thee all things do come.'
To sum up: what infidel does not know that he has received light, air, food--all things necessary for his own body's life--from Him alone who gives food to all flesh (Ps. 136.25), who makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5.45).
Who is so impious as to attribute the peculiar eminence of humanity to any other except to Him who says, in Genesis, Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness'? (Gen. 1.26)."
Bernard of Clairvaux - On Loving God
A majority of this was posted in Treasury of Daily Prayer - August 19 - CPH.
Again, it is a bold slap in my face of just how far I have run ahead of the Lord in understanding myself and what I have received. God bless and love you.
-pmwl
"There is no glory in having a gift without knowing it. But to know only that you have it, without knowing that it is not of yourself that you have it, means self-glorying, but no true glory in God. And so the apostle says to men in such cases, ““What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” 1 Cor 4:7, showing that the guilt is not in glorying over a possession, but in glorying as though what one has had not been received. And rightly such glorying is called vain (empty) glory, since it has no the solid foundation in truth.
The apostle shows how to discern the true glory from the false, when he says, He that glories (boasts), let him glory in the Lord, that is, in the Truth, since our Lord is Truth (I Cor. 1.31; John 14.6).
We must know, then, what we are, and that it is not of ourselves that we are what we are. Unless we know this thoroughly, either we shall not glory at all, or our glorying will be vain. Finally, it is written, If you know not, go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock' (Cant. 1.8). And this is right. For man, being in honor, if he know not his own honor, may fitly be compared, because of such ignorance, to the beasts that perish. Not knowing himself as the creature that is distinguished from the irrational brutes by the possession of reason, he commences to be confounded with them because, ignorant of his own true glory which is within, he is led captive by his curiosity, and concerns himself with external, sensual things. So he is made to resemble the lower orders by not knowing that he has been more highly endowed than they.
We must be on our guard against this ignorance. We must not rank ourselves too low; and with still greater care we must see that we do not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, as happens when we foolishly impute to ourselves whatever good may be in us. But far more than either of these kinds of ignorance, we must hate and shun that presumption which would lead us to glory in goods not our own, knowing that they are not of ourselves but of God, and yet not fearing to rob God of the honor due unto Him. For mere ignorance, as in the first instance, does not glory at all; and mere wisdom, as in the second, while it has a kind of glory, yet does not glory in the Lord.
In the third evil case, however, man sins not in ignorance but deliberately, usurping the glory which belongs to God. And this arrogance is a more grievous and deadly fault than the ignorance of the second, since it condemns God, while the other knows Him not. Ignorance is brutal, arrogance is devilish. Pride only, the chief of all iniquities, can make us treat gifts as if they were rightful attributes of our nature, and, while receiving benefits, rob our Benefactor of His due glory.
Wherefore to dignity and wisdom we must add virtue, the proper fruit of them both. Virtue seeks and finds Him who is the Author and Giver of all good, and who must be in all things glorified; otherwise, one who knows what is right yet fails to perform it, will be beaten with many stripes (Luke 12.47). Why? you may ask. Because he has failed to put his knowledge to good effect, but rather has imagined mischief upon his bed (PS. 36.4); like a wicked servant, he has turned aside to seize the glory which, his own knowledge assured him, belonged only to his good Lord and Master. It is plain, therefore, that dignity without wisdom is useless and that wisdom without virtue is accursed. But when one possesses virtue, then wisdom and dignity are not dangerous but blessed.
Such a man calls on God and lauds Him, confessing from a full heart, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Your name be glory' (PS. 115.1). Which is to say, O Lord, we claim no knowledge, no distinction for ourselves; all is Thine, since from Thee all things do come.'
To sum up: what infidel does not know that he has received light, air, food--all things necessary for his own body's life--from Him alone who gives food to all flesh (Ps. 136.25), who makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5.45).
Who is so impious as to attribute the peculiar eminence of humanity to any other except to Him who says, in Genesis, Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness'? (Gen. 1.26)."
Bernard of Clairvaux - On Loving God
A majority of this was posted in Treasury of Daily Prayer - August 19 - CPH.
Again, it is a bold slap in my face of just how far I have run ahead of the Lord in understanding myself and what I have received. God bless and love you.
-pmwl
