I, the Ego

Egotism...

• is a conceited insistence on my own particular ways and manners and customs. 
• It is an easily discernible characteristic, 
• and fortunately is condemned straightway by right-thinking people. 
• We are inclined to overlook egotism in young people and in ignorant people, 
• but even in them it is of the detestable, vicious order.
• Photo: Snowy Shopfronts - Freemans in NYC

Of egoism... 

• only good things can be said. 
• It is that system of thinking 
• which makes the human personality the center.
• Photo: Snowy Shopfronts - Butler Bake Shop in Brooklyn 

The thinking that starts from all kinds of abstractions... 

• is contrary to the Bible. 
• The biblical way of thinking brings me 
• right straight down to people as the center. 
• That which puts people right and keeps people right 
• is the revelation I have in God’s Book. 
• Photo: Snowy Shopfronts in Washington D.C.

For instance, 

• the teaching of my Lord and of the apostle Paul 
• continually centers around “I,” 
• yet there is no egotism about it; it is egoism. 
• Photo: Snowy Shopfronts - Three Lives & Co. in NYC

Everything in the Bible... 

• is related to the person, 
• to my salvation, 
• to my sanctification, 
• to my keeping, and so forth. 
• Any system of thinking which has the person for its center 
• and as its aim and purpose is rightly called egoism.
• Photo: Snowy Shopfronts - The Golden Rule in Excelsior, Minnesota

Adapted Excerpt From

Biblical Psychology

Oswald Chambers