There is a story of a British general serving in Asia. One evening, the General hosted a formal dinner party for distinguished guests. One of those guests was an aristocratic lady visiting from England. The general’s assistant seated her to his left, while the highest seat of honor was to his right. The sophisticated English lady was seething inside at being seated in a lower seat than what she felt she deserved. As the dinner wore on, she could contain herself no longer. In a loud, blustery voice, she arrogantly complained to the general, “I guess you have difficulty finding qualified assistants to seat people properly.”
The general, known for his candor and wit, replied, “Not at all. Those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.”
Her ego suffered from inflation that called for deflation. It’s a reminder of the danger of arrogance. The more our egos become inflated, the more life has a way of humbling us, and sometimes in painful, embarrassing ways. Scripture tells us to not think more highly of ourselves than we ought, for ego inflation often leads to ego deflation in the most humiliation ways.