When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain, I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

-When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Isaac Watts

The poetic lines of the first verse of this well-known hymn are full of meaning. Perhaps one of the most illustrative examples is in the single word: pour. When we see the work that Jesus Christ has done on the Cross, we pour contempt on our pride.

This phrase, pouring out contempt on our pride, invokes an image of an evil fire of pride that burns within each of our hearts: one that we ought to extinguish by pouring upon it the sobering water of contempt. When we survey that wondrous Cross of Christ, we ought to be so humbled by His loving sacrifice that we douse our own pride in the cooling waters of humility.

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” -Galatians 6:14a

• Grieving the Holy Ghost
• Deadly Consequences of Stubbornness and Pride
• Forgetting God in Prosperity
• Pride vs. Worship: Pride’s Price
• Oblivion, or Everlasting Glory?

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Godly Sayings by Dean