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This is Part III in our four-part series on Thomas Charles, pride, and humility. If you haven’t yet, watch or listen to Part I and Part II.

“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 Corinthians 4:7

All the works of God reflect balance, proportion, beauty. It’s the same with the spiritual man. All the qualities of Christlikeness ought to be increasing in proportion as we move along in the Christian life. The grace of knowledge should be growing proportionally with love, joy, peace, and humility. 

Our vertical virtues (directly aimed at God)--love, devotion, consecration--cannot be growing in a healthy way if they’re not also producing a balanced growth in the way we deal with other people. If a man claims he has this vertical growth, but it does not accompany external things, something’s not right. If we say we’re humble before God, but we’re proud in the way we deal with those around us, we may not be humble after all.

Thomas Charles writes, “If we truly believe that we receive everything from God, we cannot glory in it as if we did not receive it. Do you believe this?”

Thomas Charles’ letter is broken down into three headings. We look at the first two headings in this episode.

Pride and Humility Think Differently

Pride makes a man prone to see the flaws of others and exaggerate his own strength. Humility makes a man prone to see the good in others and his own flaws. Rebuke is costly and hard to the humble man. 

Pride and Humility Talk Differently