Quotable

Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, the other a publican (Lk 18:10). There is no place or position so sacred that the “Pharisee” cannot enter. Pride can lift its head in the very temple of God, and make His worship the scene of its self-exaltation....

Just when we are most anxious to have our heart be the temple of God, we will find the two men coming up to pray. And the publican will find that his danger is not from the Pharisee beside him...but from the Pharisee within....

Yes, even in the temple, when the language of penitence and trust in God’s mercy alone is heard, the Pharisee may take up the note of praise, and in thanking God be congratulating himself. Pride can clothe itself in the garments of praise or of penitence....

The preacher of spiritual truth with an admiring congregation hanging on his words...the Christian giving testimony to a blessed experience, the evangelist...made a blessing to rejoicing multitudes—no man knows the...unconscious danger to which these are exposed.

Paul was in danger without knowing it. What Jesus did for him is written for our admonition....His grace is sufficient for us...too. His strength will be perfected in our weakness. Let us choose to be weak, to be low, to be nothing. Let humility be joy and gladness to us.

—Andrew Murray,
 in his classic, Humility