Overt self exaltation is seldom taken serious. Who cares if someone wears a shirt that says "world's greatest dad." Such statments are mostly deemed silly, and usually uttered as an obvious absurdity for the sake of humor. The real problem is the covert self-exaltation. It is like a spider web ... you may not see it coming but once you walk through it, it is hard to remove .. and it just feels iky.

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A basic example of this might be football fans. They say that the Cowboys are the best, so that as they associate with the team (as a fan) they get the exaltation by association. Thus, we have people that exalt emersion baptism, and others that exalt sprinkling baptisms so that they can practice what they exalt and receive exaltation by association. Same goes with those that exalt the Bible, so that they can view their ownership of a Bible or the "right Bible" as a lofty perch to condemn the poor saps that don't. Same goes with people that extol the greatness of speaking in toungues. What are they really trying to exalt? ... and would they be exalting that gift if they could not demonstrate it to the satisfaction of others?

This can even go as far as dogma, or theology, or even distinctions of association (i.e. I am a Mason). I can exalt the Masons and then ascribe to the tennents of that path to exalt myself.

But, with Christ there is no exaltion of self when we exalt Him ... for it is not us that chose Him, but He that chose us first. My association with Him is not according to my activity, but His!

We recieve the work of God with humble thankfulness. ... and even those that think that they came to belief by the autocratic activity of reason, but recognize their mind's origin also ... for Who imbued them with the ability to reason anyway, and Who was the architect of their faith?

2 Thessalonians 2
13But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, I say "Exalt Christ!" (wherein lies no self-exaltation) for He alone deserves the glory.

1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the one who would turn aside His wrath, taking away our sins.