In The Old Man and the Sea Hemingway tells one of the most captivating sea adventure stories ever written. It’s the tale of an old man’s ordeal with a big fish far out at sea. In one dramatic moment the huge fish jumps out of the water to show his gigantic self to the one who has him in tow. Hemingway has Santiago, the fisherman, thinking, “I wonder why he jumped. He jumped almost as though to show me how big he was. I know now, anyway, I wish I could show him what sort of man I am. But then he would see the cramped hand. Let him think I am more of a man than I am, and I will he so.”
What a great thought! Too many of us have a low opinion of ourselves. It makes an enormous difference what we think of ourselves. Think ourselves greater men than we are, and we will be so.
This is not to suggest a naive ego-bolstering, self-glorying, humanistic philosophy which says, “Every day in every way, I am getting better and better.” It is to enunciate the need for man to recover his lost glory. This glory is not a self-sufficiency. It is not pride from self-achievement. Rather, it is a discovery of the power that can be ours as children of God.
As the pinnacle of God’s creation, not proudly, but humbly, we should have a high opinion of ourselves. In the eyes of God we are all creatures of potential greatness. He made us in his likeness.
Don’t forget who you are—creatures of God, created in his image. Think ourselves greater men than we are, and we will be so.