So many times, when I think about sin, I mistakenly view pride as a “minor sin”, in light of other “major sins.” On an intellectual basis, I know this is wrong. From the vantage point of a holy and perfect God, all sins are equal. A mathematical parable illustrates this point just as well: negative two is just as far from positive infinity as negative twenty is. After all, all it took was the eating of a piece of fruit to let a whole host of problems enter the world. From an emotional and functional basis, however, I view pride (especially my own) as a “good person’s sin.”
This was always the case in small group Bible studies as well. As we would go around the room and share our weekly struggles, there was always the one guy who was “clean” the past week, and thus “only struggled with pride.” Even when somebody would occasionally pay lip service to the extent of his pride, I would be more jealous of him or than sorrowful for him. I hoped to get to the point someday where my only struggle was pride.
I’m just starting to realize, though, how big of a deal pride is. Pride is not a “remnant sin” in an otherwise holy life; pride is the most fundamental sin and is lodged at the core of all other transgressions. If the entire purpose of our lives is to glorify God (and enjoy doing so), pride, or the exalting of self, directly robs God of his due glory. Sexual sin indirectly robs God of glory because it makes his plan for sex look inferior to our own. The idolatry of money indirectly robs God of his glory because it makes money look more valuable than God. Pride, however, not indirectly, but directly robs God of his glory. Struggling with pride, as I do so often, is not evidence that I have progressed in my Christian walk to the point where pride is my last remaining mini-struggle. Instead, it is evidence of my own spiritual immaturity and evidence that I have missed the whole picture to start with.
I have tried to deal with my pride recently, but the whole issue seems to be a catch-22. I certainly don’t want to be prideful, but any steps I took toward greater humility only seemed to instill in me a greater sense of pride – pride that I was now more humble than I was the day before, or, quite ironically, pride that I was more humble than my neighbor.
God really spoke to me last night about this issue and led me to a YouTube clip of Pastor Mark Driscoll, called “The Solution for Pride is Not Humility.” The title really drew me in (does this mean I plagiarized?), because I thought that humility was the solution to pride. Pastor Driscoll put it perfectly, though – He said:
“If you want to grow in humility, don’t focus on humility. Here’s what I’ve seen happen. (We say) ‘I’m so proud, I need to really work on humility, so I am going to focus on humility so that I can be more humble…which is still about me….which is ultimately pride.”
I think Driscoll hit the nail on the head on that one. His solution: focus on somebody else – namely, Jesus Christ. When we saturate our live with reading about Jesus, praying about Jesus, contemplating Jesus (and by extension, God the father), and worshipping Jesus, humility will come as an inevitable byproduct. Driscoll goes on to say, “When I think about salvation, I know my place. My place is not seated on the throne, high and exalted; my place is before the throne, face on the ground, saying thank you.”
Some may accuse God of being egotistical in this whole exchange. After all, if any other person I knew demanded me to humble myself and worship them, I would probably never talk to them again. This case is different, however, and I have experienced it firsthand. In this case, it is in our best interest and for the sake of our own happiness that we worship the only entity in the universe worthy of our worship. It is truly a joyous exchange.
I pray that during this year abroad, I will come to be a more humble person, not by forcibly willing myself to take on “more humble” characteristics, but by contemplating the one who, when understood correctly, leaves no room for pride.
