Have we ever attempted to convey some gospel truth to someone, especially in regards to sovereignty, election, particular redemption, &c., and along with the usual scowl, are reprimanded with these words or similar, “you must think you are really special, part of some chosen few, better than the rest of us,” &c., which reproach is heavy indeed, and cuts deeply, for it contradicts the very spirit of the gospel in the believer’s heart, which is not to magnify oneself, but to glorify God in Christ. “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.” Psalm 115:1. For the believer knows better than anyone that the exact opposite is true. Grace leaves no room for boasting, for how can one who has been brought low in the dust imagine himself higher than his neighbor? Isaiah 26:5. To have glimpsed even the hem of Christ’s garment is to be stripped of all pretensions, and to see oneself as vile and bankrupt before God, Isaiah 6:5, which makes it nearly impossible to think less of others. Such a sight leaves the soul with no pedestal upon which to stand, no superiority to claim, no comparison to make, for the believer has seen the truth of his own condition, that he is undone and without strength. The Christian’s confession is not, “I am better,” but rather, “I am nothing, and Christ is all.” One paradox of the gospel is that the more it lifts us in Christ, the more it breaks us in ourselves. The world supposes that election and particular redemption breed arrogance, but the opposite is true. These truths have a crushing effect on pride and cultivate nothingness. A believer who has tasted the grace of God in Christ Jesus knows himself as nothing more than a debtor to that grace. MPJ Additional Thought:The Lord’s people often find it impossible to think less of others, because they already think so little of themselves outside of Christ.