While we measure ourselves by other men, we will almost always think more highly of ourselves than we should. There will always be someone weaker, worse, more careless, more foolish, or more outwardly sinful, and the proud heart knows how to use that comparison to protect itself.
But the moment we stand before the holy requirements of God’s nature, all boasting dies. The question is no longer whether we look better than another sinner. The question is whether we are clean before the God whose eyes are too pure to approve evil (Habakkuk 1:13). That is when a man stops defending himself and begins to say with Abraham, “I am but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27).
This is what true repentance does. It changes a man’s opinion of himself. He no longer sees sin as a small weakness or an unfortunate mistake. He sees it as guilt before God. He no longer compares himself with other men to feel safe. He measures himself by the holiness of God and is brought low.
Paul said, “I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think” (Romans 12:3). That humility is not natural to us. It is worked in us when God opens our eyes. Isaiah saw the Lord and cried, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!” (Isaiah 6:5). Job saw God more clearly and said, “I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6).
True repentance does not make a man proud that he has repented. It humbles him. It teaches him to stop measuring himself by sinners beside him and to start trembling before the holy God above him. Only then does grace become precious, because only then does the sinner understand what he truly deserves.
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