Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-09-07
SPIRES OF THE SPIRIT
Being Sure of Yourself
BY DIR. FREDERICK BROWN HARRIS
Chaplain Of the United States Senate


that diamond among virtues
-humility-is likely to result
in a person being too sure Of
himself. The little one
knows. or can know. is so
tiny contrasted to the titanic
bulk Of what even the most
learned does not know that
any lack of a proper humility
is unseemly. 1t makes what
Galsworthy calls a "cockeyed.
cocksureness" especially OBJ
jectionable. The Pharisee in
the temple whose full length
portrait Jesus drew belonged
in that category. The trouble
with that inflated individual,
who held a Thanksgiving
service with himself as he
reviewed his own virtues, was
that he was much too sure Of
himself. He was sure of a
superiority that he did not
really possess. He gloried in
a piety that was only skim
deep. He was proud of a
strutting self that was hypo-
critical and hollow. OF course,
when any person faces his
fellows with pretensions
masquerading as possessions
he makes his life a walking
lie. This Pharisee looked dis
painfully at the Publican who
also had gone into the same
temple to pray. Seeing him
he made it a part of his
prayer of gratitude that he
was not like such a lowly
creature-he was that sure Of
himself!
Now that is a sense in
which every child of God has
a right to be sure of himself.
A genuine humility does not
mean a constant whimper-
ing, shrinking timidity to-
ward others and in the pres
ence of life'S problems and
responsibilities. Mr.. Milk
toast, always diScounting
himself, is no adequate SYM
boil of one who attempts to
be a follower Of JesuS-the
flawless crystal Christ. To
be sure Jesus of Nazareth was
meek and lowly of heart.
Yet. no person ever trod this
earth who was more sure of
himself. Had He not been
sure, He of the steadfast face
would have needed the en-
treaties of friends and the
threats Of foes and turned
back long before He reached
that torturing cross outside
a city's wall. Mans best
man went to the place called
Calvary because of what He
thought of himself.
There was an old Edin-
burgh weaver who habitually
used to pray when he was
called upon in the kirke
prayer meeting, "Oh Lord,
help me to hold a high opin-
ion of myself" AS unimpor-
tant in the eyes of the world
as the weaver was, and as OBJ
Scure in the life of that great
city. he was nevertheless sure
of himself. He was conscious
that in his life were things
too valuable to be misuSed,
too fine to be profane. Re-
membering the stuff of which
his personality was made he
had a high opinion of himself.
1t was my privilege this
summer to meet and talk
more than once with the
grandson of M h a t m a
Gandhi. This outstanding
young citizen of India is Civ
ing his life to the coronation
OF the winged ideals which
his famous grandfather in
carnated. Mahatma Gandhi
when a youth lin London en-
tered into the social world.
took dancing and violin les
sons, dressed in the latest
fashion and gave the impress
sion of being successful and
full of charm. Perhaps at
that stage he showed signs of
turning his back on the pit
of misery from which he had
been digged. Perhaps he was
tempted to think too much of
himself to give his Western
lied life to poverty stricken
India. But many years later
we find him not a London
socialite, but a toothless, half
naked ascetic. living on goats
milk Had that change come
because he had ceased to
have a high opinion of him
self? Oh, no; it was because
he had found a self that was
worthy to be respected. The
masters of Britain who did
not notice him when he
danced in London later
feared. as no other man, this
towering personality who had