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The Spiritual Man, book by H. H. Pope Shenouda III

51- In ambition and superiority

 

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The spiritual man controls himself concerning his ambition and the love of exaltation and superiority.

Whenever he finds himself wise in his own eyes or righteous in his own opinion, he tries to control himself, lest he thinks of himself more highly than he ought to think (Rom 12:3). And he does not exalt himself above the measure that God has dealt to him (Rom 12:3).

The devil failed to control himself concerning the love of being exalted because, while he wanted to ascend above the clouds and become like the Most High, (Is. 14:14), he fell and his fall was great...

The spiritual man controls himself, not only concerning the love of exaltation, but also concerning the gifts.

Or God Himself assigns for him a control so that he would not be exalted, as we have discussed this issue before here on st-takla.org in other sections. Consider St Paul the Apostle when he says: “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure” (2 Cor 12:7).

My brother, whenever your thought exalts, control it. Do not think of yourself above measure. Put limits for the ambitions that may lead you to compare yourself to others. Then when you find that you are more exalted and more bigger, you lose your obedience, humility, commitment and respect for others... But always place before yourself the saying of the Holy Bible: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov 16:18).

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