Brewed In Belief

I read Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle recently and he discussed pride as a sin common to young men. From experience, this is true for me. One solution he discussed for pride is the practice of modesty. Modesty is a practice born out of humility. One feature of humility is thinking less of your own significance and more of the significance of others. I understand modesty to be humility played out in social settings. Thus, modesty is behaving around others as if yourself, your own insights, your own opinions, are of less importance than theirs. It is more focused on hearing the wisdom of others than asserting one’s own wisdom. Modesty tends to be silent rather than to speak and wait to speak until asked a question. This is in stark contrast to proud self-assertion and boastfulness. A proud young man may be quick to make a comment and talk over others. A proud young man may fail to listen to others because he is only waiting to make his own comment and he thinks his comment to be important and the comments of others to be unimportant. Modesty makes one slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19). Every sin you feed grows and every sin you starve dies. By practicing modesty, you are starving pride.