DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- PILGRIM'S PROGRESS -- THE DECEIT OF CONCEIT

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS – THE DECEIT OF CONCEIT

"Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him" (Proverbs 26:12)

"I slept again, and I dreamed I saw the same two pilgrims going down the mountains along the highway toward the Celestial City. Now a little below these mountains on the left-hand side lies the country of Conceit. From this country meandered a twisting but pleasant green lane that joined the pilgrims' highway. It was here that Christian and Hopeful met a very brisk lad who was coming out of that country. His name was Ignorance."

Conceit is the act of looking good in one's own eyes. He gets up in the morning and looks in the mirror, and says to himself, "I think I'm pretty good !" The King James Version translates the word for "conceit" as "in his own eyes." The Hebrew word merely means "eye." He looks pretty good "in his own eyes." That man is worse than a fool. It is a sign of ignorance to overestimate one's personhood.

In Bunyan's tale, he is referring to the person who thinks that he does not need Jesus, the Bible, Salvation, or anything else. He thinks he is pretty good. As Bunyan put it, "I pay every man what I owe him; I pray and fast, I pay tithes and give alms." He is ignorant of the understanding that all have sinned, and we all need a Savior. In his pride, he thinks he is good enough the way he is. He certainly does not need to go through the straight gate to the cross. He thinks his own religion is good enough.

He is content to follow the religion of his own country. We call it "civil religion." Civil religion leads many people astray because it deceives them into feeling that as long as they are good people, that is all that is needed to go to the Celestial City. But God says that there is only one way to get to heaven, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. There must be an acknowledgment of the fact that I am not good enough to get to heaven on my own merit. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us" (Titus 3:5).

I need to beware of the deceit of conceit.

Love, Dad