Wait.
Before you get all, "Ooh, what a cool quote!", let me tell you this: You will never be "superior" to your former self enough to make you "noble".
Any nobility that man has is by virtue of the fact that we are created in the image of God.
Having been born sinful, the only ultimate way we will ever really be "superior" to our former self is if the Lord gives us a new heart as a gift of salvation, and we come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have our sins forgiven by Him.
Hemingway was one of the most successful authors in history. He traveled the world over, respected and lauded by the famous and powerful, and pretty much did whatever he wanted to do.
Coffee at sidewalk cafes in Paris, bullfights in Spain, hunting in Africa, fishing in Cuba.
But what he most wanted to do was to drink away the pain of an empty heart.
The very philosophy he expressed above was no doubt a large part of his undoing.
That's no doubt why Ernest Hemingway, at age 61, in beautiful Ketchum, Idaho, pointed his shotgun at himself and pulled the trigger.
His father before him had committed suicide also. So did his sister Ursula. And his brother Leicester.
You may be "superior" to your former self in writing, or art, or business, or sports, or speaking ability, or knowledge.
But to paraphrase Jesus, What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world of "superiority", but loses his soul? There is no nobility in that.
But the good news is that God came to Earth as a man, Jesus Christ. And He died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day.
And whoever believes in Him as Lord and Savior, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. With sins forgiven. Forever.
In that is true joy. And that's better than "nobility".
Having been born sinful, the only ultimate way we will ever really be "superior" to our former self is if the Lord gives us a new heart as a gift of salvation, and we come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have our sins forgiven by Him.
Hemingway was one of the most successful authors in history. He traveled the world over, respected and lauded by the famous and powerful, and pretty much did whatever he wanted to do.
Coffee at sidewalk cafes in Paris, bullfights in Spain, hunting in Africa, fishing in Cuba.
But what he most wanted to do was to drink away the pain of an empty heart.
The very philosophy he expressed above was no doubt a large part of his undoing.
That's no doubt why Ernest Hemingway, at age 61, in beautiful Ketchum, Idaho, pointed his shotgun at himself and pulled the trigger.
His father before him had committed suicide also. So did his sister Ursula. And his brother Leicester.
You may be "superior" to your former self in writing, or art, or business, or sports, or speaking ability, or knowledge.
But to paraphrase Jesus, What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world of "superiority", but loses his soul? There is no nobility in that.
But the good news is that God came to Earth as a man, Jesus Christ. And He died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day.
And whoever believes in Him as Lord and Savior, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. With sins forgiven. Forever.
In that is true joy. And that's better than "nobility".
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