I need the gospel most when I am feeling best about myself. Ironically, that’s the least likely moment for me to think about it! A thousand times a day, I experience firsthand the reality that “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9), as I depend on my own confidence or abilities to survive in this world.

I’m not saying we should go around being constantly down on ourselves (which is a form of pride). But rather, that I need to root myself, my identity, and my general feelings for how things are going, in the truth of the gospel. My feelings are constantly changing. This world’s messages are lies. And constant comparison to others around me leaves me hollow and unstable. Especially in those moments of elation, when I feel best about myself, my abilities, my achievements, I desperately need the bedrock of the gospel to anchor myself to reality. 

• The gospel reminds me that my will, emotions, intellect, and very being are sinful to the core — and yet, the Spirit has given me a new heart to desire Him.
• The gospel reminds me that this world is broken because of our sin, and yet, God is sovereign over every detail of it to world all things for good in the lives of his children.
• The gospel reminds me that others will let me down, and yet, Christ will always remain faithful.
• The gospel reminds me that apart from Christ, my best deeds were filthy rags, but in Christ, the least act of service or seeking God is precious in God’s sight and accepted for Christ’s sake. 

In those moments of self-elation and exaltation, I need all the more to root myself back in gospel truth. For it is in those moments I realize it the least that I need him the most.