Has presumptuousness come? Then dishonor will come; but wisdom is with the modest ones.—Prov. 11:2.
All in the congregation need to be on guard against searching out their own glory. (Prov. 25:27) Evidently, that was a pitfall for one particular disciple whom the apostle John encountered. He wrote: “Diotrephes, who likes to have the first place among them, does not receive anything from us with respect. That is why, if I come, I will call to remembrance his works which he goes on doing, chattering about us with wicked words.” (3 John 9, 10) There is a lesson in that even for us today. We have good reason to uproot any trace of ambition we might see in ourselves. The Bible tells us: “Pride is before a crash, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” Those who accept God’s authority must resist the snare of presumptuousness, for doing otherwise will lead to dishonor.