June 9
Know your own size
“I say . . . to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3).
“The tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things” (James 3:5).
One of the hardest phrases to utter in the English language is, “I don’t know.” Many people try to bluff their way through life and find themselves in all kinds of complications which at times takes something akin to white lies in order to extricate themselves. But the true man or woman of God will lose nothing but gain much by admitting what he does not know.
The celebrated Duval, librarian of Francis I, often answered questions by, “I don’t know.” An insolent man replied to him one day, “Why, sir, you ought to know. The Emperor pays you for your knowledge.” Duval answered, “The Emperor pays me for what I know; if he was to pay me for what I don’t know, all the treasures of his empire would not be sufficient.”