Now that I have your attention, I want to say I hope that you’re having a great day and can stick around to read the entire article. According to Christian tradition there are seven deadly sins: envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath. Each of these deadly sins has its root in the desire for more and the human need for excess. Each sin goes against the root of Christianity which is: love for God, love for our fellow man, and love for our bodies (keeping them as clean temples for God). The cure for these sins is the gift of a new heart that acts in accordance to the love and law of God. God has been dealing with me a lot lately on pride. He’s been allowing me to see the pride in myself and the pride in others. I know a lot of people may not agree with the things that Kanye has been speaking about lately, but he actually does make some good points ocassionally. In an interview he did on the Jimmy Kimmel show he was speaking on pride. He stated that we often give pride a positive connotation, but it’s actually one of the seven deadly sins. He was right with this statement. The saying, “A dead clock is right twice a day”, is so true. We can learn something from anyone, even Donald Duck, I mean Trump.
“How many recent sermons have you heard on pride or humility? Probably not many. One hears surprisingly little from church or parachurch leaders about either of these subjects. In fact, what throughout history has been recognized as the deadliest of vices is now almost celebrated as a virtue in our culture. Pride and arrogance are conspicuous among the rich, the powerful, the successful, the famous, and celebrities of all sorts, and even some religious leaders. And it is also alive and well in ordinary people, including each of us. Yet few of us realize how dangerous it is to our souls and how greatly it hinders our intimacy with God and love for others. Humility, on the other hand, is often seen as weakness, and few of us know much about it or pursue it. For the good of our souls, then, we need to gain a clearer understanding of pride and humility and of how to forsake the one and embrace the other.” ~ Thomas A Tarrants III
There are many biblical examples of pride and its consequences in the lives of individuals, and they offer valuable lessons for our own lives. One of the more notable examples from the Old Testament is that of Uzziah, who was a believer. When he became king of Judah at age sixteen, he set his heart to seek God and put himself under the spiritual mentorship of Zechariah. And “as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper” (2 Chron. 26:5). As a result, he acquired wealth and also became politically and militarily powerful. Then things changed. “His fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction” (26:15–16). What happened? There are hints in the text that at some point on the road to the top, he stopped seeking the Lord and the spiritual mentoring of Zechariah. This suggests a lessening dependence on God and a growing reliance upon himself and his own strength and wisdom. History shows at every point how easy it is for pride to increase as we become stronger, more successful, more prosperous, and more recognized in our endeavors. In fact, anything, real or imagined, that elevates us above others can be a platform for pride. Ironically, this is true even when these things come as a result of God’s blessings. As a result of all his blessings, Uzziah, rather than humbling himself in thanksgiving to God, began to think more highly of himself than he should have and developed an exaggerated sense of his own importance and abilities. This pride of heart led to presumption before God and brought very serious consequences upon him, illustrating the biblical warnings that pride leads to disgrace (Prov. 11:2) and that “pride goes before destruction” (Prov. 16:18).
Moneybagg Yo said in one of his songs “We could’ve been fixed it but we both let pride control the situation” , “Then there it go weon talk for some days cause our pride too big
Cause you feel like you right and I feel like I’m right too busy actin like kids”. Sadly I believe that this is the downfall of a lot of marriages and relationships. None of us are right 100% of the time, for the Bible tells us so. "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins." ~ Ecclesiastes 7:20
We don’t always let God guide our thoughts and views of everything. We’re human and it’s so easy for us to let our emotions control our actions and decisions. Many people are the way they are based on experiences. Take for example what people see in their childhood. Some are raised in a two parent home while some are raised by a single mother. People growing up seeing their mom have to play both roles or don’t see the role of father and husband modeled will have different beliefs, so they try to do things based off what they believe to be right. I saw Pastor John Gray and his wife do an interview a while ago and his wife talked about how she grew up in a two parent home and he didn’t. That didn’t make her better than him, it didn’t make her beliefs necessarily right, but I’m sure it caused problems in the way that they functioned as boyfriend/girlfriend and now spouses. They both learned different things, some right and some wrong, but they couldn’t come to the relationship thinking all that they know was the best way. They had to sit down and analyze what practices that he learned from his mother and what she learned from both parents and compromise to see what would work best for their family. They wouldn’t be able to do this if they didn’t humble themselves (the opposite of pride) to compromise. That’s the reason a lot of relationships fail. Either one person or both refuse to recognize their own selfishness. Relationships require dying to yourself. Selfishness is a result of pride. We criticize people without even trying to understand their reasoning. And though this won’t justify their behavior it will help us understand and have patience to correct it. I know we talk about looking for red flags in dating, but I’ve come to think about that term. When you say you see red flags in a person you’re dating, to me you’re essentially saying that they should be discarded from the pool of potential marriage partners. They aren’t fit to marry at all. I think that red flags are real, but not what we’ve become accustomed to assuming as them. A selfish mindset and unwillingness to grow are red flags that we don’t hear mentioned often. Many things are more relatable to yellow flags. Take time to slow down and proceed with caution, or prepare to come to a complete stop. We focus to much on actions, but not the heart. It’s like me teaching a child how to do algebraic problems and they get them wrong. Or if I look at their test scores from the previous year and assume that low scores makes them unteachable. If I show them what they’re doing incorrectly and they make corrections then this child can become a productive student. But if that child refuses to listen then I can say that’s a terrible student. What if your boss knew of all the times you were late to your old job and turned in assignments late in college, but refused to give you a second chance? It’s crazy how God gives us so much grace but we rarely want to give it to others. You can hold people’s past against them if you focus too much on that and not what they’re doing now. Pride causes you to think so highly of your successes and so negatively of others’ shortcomings. Communication, patience, and understanding is key. A lot of the time we don’t take into account the experiences of the person. A woman who has been sexually assaulted may not open up to a man easily, a man who grew up fatherless may not take on responsibility well, a woman may not respect leadership if she hasn’t been with a man who displayed it well. Does this make them unlovable? No unless they’re too prideful to change. Even that doesn’t make them unlovable, but the point is you can’t grow in a relationship with someone like that. Ask God to reveal people’s heart to you. Pride is not from God. If a person doesn’t have humility and can admit that they are flawed then that’s a dangerous person to be around. We must recognize our shortcomings and address them. And we have to be open to receiving correction. That’s the only way that we can change. Conflict is inevitable in all human relationships, but those who address them humbly will grow. Pride and love cannot coexist.
Some things only have one way, like remaining celibate until marriage or a man being the head of the household. The Bible is so unclear on many things, but pride will tell us it’s our way or the highway. Humility means not thinking too highly of ourselves and filling our minds and hearts up with pride. It allows us to put other people first, but it does not mean being weak. Being humble isn’t about being easily manipulated, but it shows that you aren’t perfect. There are some things that you should be 100% confident about (things the Bible clearly states) but others you should be open minded and willing to view it from another perspective.
Chances are good that most of us do not see pride in our lives. For while it is easy to see pride in others, it is very difficult to see it in ourselves. C.S. Lewis observed that “there is no fault which makes a man more unpopular and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it in ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.” But he does suggest a couple of ways to detect its presence. First, Lewis quoted William Law from chapter fifteen of A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life “there can be no surer proof of a confirmed pride than a belief that one is sufficiently humble.” Also, “if you want to find out how proud you are the easiest way is to ask your self, ‘How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronise me, or show off?” Because it is so tricky to recognize, we are perhaps best off to earnestly seek God in prayer and ask him to reveal to us any sinful pride in our lives so we can repent and forsake it. Another step we might take is to ask those who live or work with us if they see significant expressions of sinful pride or arrogance in our life.
There is, of course, a good type of pride. Paul, for example, was proud of the churches he had established. But this was not arrogant or self-exalting pride. He made clear that his accomplishments were the fruit of God’s grace to him and through him (Rom. 15:17–19). Occasionally Paul mentions boasting, but this is a matter of highlighting what God has done by his grace, either through Paul or in those in the churches. It is never self-exalting. These days most of us will say that we are proud of our children or our favorite sports team or perhaps something we have accomplished. In cases like this, we are (one hopes) saying that we are really pleased about something good and are not engaging in the sinful type of pride and arrogance the Bible condemns. Then there is the bad type of pride: pride in what you have and pride in what you know or think you do. We’ve all been teenagers and thought we knew everything. Our parents would tell us something and we didn’t listen then when things didn’t turn out how we planned we got upset. Both types will humble you. Taking pride in your work and being proud of yourself can be different. It was through Pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind. Pride is essentially the main cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. It’s the cause of all sin. We can see pride in one’s actions or thought in Luke 18:9–14. We can learn a lesson from the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It is aimed at those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”
An interesting story on pride that I thought of was King David being punished for giving a census . Because he did this to determine HIS power and to trust in it, it offended God. Of itself, taking a census is not unlawful. The primary reason in the Old Testament for taking a census was to know the size of a nation's army and its ability to win wars against other people (Numbers 1:1-4, see also verse 19)! It was SATAN that moved David to disobey God ( 2 Samuel 24:1). David seems to have been prompted by a feeling of pride and ambitious curiosity. Because he did this to determine HIS power and to trust in it, it offended God. Looking at the scriptures we can know that there is an evil intent by their content. Anytime Satan is involved you can be sure he intends to get someone to sin! He put the thought in David's mind that if he knew the number of young men under his rule (meaning those fit for war) he could brag or boast how great a king he was - by the size of his army! Joab, commander of David's army, tried to warn him to NOT number Israel and bring an occasion of punishment to the nation (1Chronicles 21:2 - 3). In Hebrew, the word "sin" is often used synonymously with the punishment of sin. In the course of Providence, the people frequently suffer for the misconduct of their rulers.
Easton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary also has some interesting comments regarding this incident with King David. It states that David acted out of pride and a desire to glorify himself. He had come to the point in his life where he was relying far more on his own strength and that of his army rather than on God.
Pride is a universal human problem. Everyone suffers from it to some degree. When we have exalted ourselves in pride, God does not want to punish us and bring us low but rather to forgive and restore us. He says again and again in Scripture, humble yourselves, and I will exalt you. This gives us hope and encouragement. God takes pleasure in our efforts to humble ourselves, and he loves to bless and exalt the humble. For just as pride is the root of all sin, so “humility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all virtue,” as John Chrysostom once remarked.
Admittedly, humility and the humbling of oneself is out of fashion in today’s world and seems unappealing to most of us. We must view humility as one of the most essential things that characterizes true Christianity. Our perspective on humility can be radically changed if we will ponder and meditate on the greatest example of humility in history: Jesus Christ. By the very act of leaving heaven, coming to earth, and taking the form of man, he demonstrated an unfathomable humbling of himself. Throughout his life on earth, Jesus demonstrated a spirit of profound humility, saying that he came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). On his last night with the disciples, he took a towel and basin and washed their dirty feet (John 13:1–11), instructing them to follow his example of servanthood with one another (John 13:12–17). How do we gain the mind of Christ and humble ourselves? To put on the mind of Christ, we will need to make a firm decision to ponder, understand, and adopt Jesus’ way of thinking; his values and attitudes must become ours. His strong emphasis on humility and meekness and his example of it must take hold of our thinking, our desires and our conduct. We must admire his humility and want it for ourselves. For this to happen, we need to earnestly and regularly pray for the Holy Spirit to change our hearts, for it is impossible to do it in our own strength. We will also need to understand what Jesus meant when he called men and women to humble themselves. We discover that from the Greek word Jesus and the apostles used, tapeinos, which conveys the idea of having a right view of ourselves before God and others. If pride is an exalted sense of who we are in relation to God and others, humility is having a realistic sense of who we are before God and others. We must not think too highly (or too lowly) of ourselves. Rather, we must be honest and realistic about who and what we are. What is a right view of ourselves? Specifics will vary from person to person, but certain things are common to us all. We are God’s creatures: small, finite, dependent, limited in intelligence and ability, prone to sin, and soon to die and face God’s judgment (Heb. 9:27). But we are also God’s children: created, loved, and redeemed by God’s grace alone, not by anything in or of ourselves; and gifted by God with certain unique gifts, abilities, resources, and advantages, which are to be used for his glory. Truly, humility is our greatest friend. It increases our hunger for God’s word and opens our hearts to his Spirit. It leads to intimacy with God, who knows the proud from afar, but dwells with him “who is of a contrite and lowly spirit” (Isa. 57:15). It imparts the aroma of Christ to all whom we encounter. It is a sign of greatness in the kingdom of God (Luke 22:24–27).
Developing the identity, attitude, and conduct of a humble servant does not happen over night. It is rather like peeling an onion: you cut away one layer only to find another beneath it. But it does happen. As we forsake pride and seek to humble ourselves by daily deliberate choices in dependence on the Holy Spirit, humility grows in our souls. Fenelon said it well, “Humility is not a grace that can be acquired in a few months: it is the work of a lifetime.” And it is a grace that is precious in the sight of God, who in due course will exalt all who embrace it.
This is a great article that I feel goes along with this blog: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/nine-words-for-every-marriage
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