Word of the Week: Pride Love… is not proud 1 Corinthians 13:4
for me personally, this is the one I would love to get rid of most of all.
humbles himself will be exalted” – Luke 18:14
Dictionary.com
1. a
high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority,
whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.
3. a becoming or dignified sense
of what is due to oneself or one’s
position or character; self-respect; self-esteem.
in something done by or belonging to oneself
or believed to reflect credit upon oneself
Back nearly 9 months ago I wrote a blog
called Kill my Pride!
I decided to add a little excerpt from
that blog, but feel free to go and read it if you would like.
“The contacts we are working with blessed
us by putting on a seminar for us for two days….
We talked about being vulnerable with your team, being united as a team, and
individually dropping our pride. It was a
hard two days, but a good two days. Man alive do I have a lot of things to work
on. Let’s be honest, I don’t like being vulnerable with people…not unless I
feel they truly want to hear what I have to say; otherwise, forget it. I also
struggle with pride. Little did I know that symptoms of pride are not just
arrogance like I used to think, but also: reluctance to admit needs, focusing
on what I don’t have, sarcasm, constantly comparing yourself with others,
judgementalism, independence against authority, not being able to admit my
mistakes but excusing myself by blaming others; to name a few. WHOA. Okay, so I
could sit here and be like “Man, I know of a person who is like
____”, or “so and so is definitely ________, so they are clearly
prideful”, but hey, HA, that also is prideful…comparing, blaming others,
judgementalism. Nobody really wants to admit they are prideful. I sure as
heck don’t, because that is a hit on my pride…to admit I am prideful. Man,
such a conundrum isn’t it? Guess instead of masking it, we should work to fix
the root, not the symptom, ya know?
What’s the answer? Well, it doesn’t come in a pretty bow if that’s what you
were hoping. It is a heart issue. You cannot just change your actions but must
truly have a renewing of your mind…like it talks about in Romans 12. We must
change our mindset, our perspective, or attitude about life. Warning: Cliché’
coming. It really is looking at the glass half full instead of half empty.
We must work towards humility. What is humility? Well, according to the
seminar it’s a number of things, but one thing that I really got out of it was
that it is not something that happens TO US, but that we have to HUMBLE
OURSELVES. Depend on God, be honest to who you are…if who you are is
not a person of integrity and craving a relationship with Christ, maybe
evaluate.”
It is crazy to look back on what I wrote back in December.
Thank you Jesus for the work you have done already since that time, but God I
thank you for the continued journey that I have with pride…I still have a
LONG way to go.
Pride is not exactly talked up in the scriptures…unless it
is referring to having pride in God.
“But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led
to his downfall.” – 2 Chronicles 26:16
“”We have heard of Moab’s pride– how great is
her arrogance!- of her insolence, her pride, her conceit and the
haughtiness of her heart.” – Jeremiah 48:29
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with
humility comes wisdom.” – Proverbs 11:2
The great thing about God…
“And those who walk in pride He is able to
humble.” – Daniel 4:37
The way to fight pride? Humility seems to be a big factor.
Asking God to humble me is painful.. it is hard. Don’t know many people who
like to mess up, be wrong on something, be called out….in general just not do
everything perfect…when we realize we don’t have it all together though and
stop trying to take the glory and instead give God the glory…humility wins
out.
Some questions I have to ask myself as a reminder to check
my pride that you might try applying to your week this week:
* Am I able to admit that I am wrong?
* Am I able to say that I am sorry once I realized I was
wrong?
* Do I genuinely want the best for others or am I trying to
get the ‘best’ for myself?
* Do I find myself automatically assuming the worst in
others, looking at the negative attributes they show and judging them? Or am I
looking at them with love, with wanting the best for them, at their qualities
and positive attributes eve n if they have offended or hurt me?
* Do I truly view that person as better than myself?
