The longer I live, the more convinced I am at the destructive power of pride. It creeps into lives and habits, it appears harmless, it is easily excused. But the fallout destroys not only the demonstrator, but often those around him/her.
Why do I believe it’s a problem? Because it takes so many forms. We have probably encountered someone and thought, “He’s proud” based on attitude and manner. But pride also gets into our lives in less obvious ways. We think we know more than other people, we assume we understand situations better, we soon believe we are better. Maybe it’s an attitude of control because we know how it goes and no one does it as well as we do. That desire is often rooted in pride.
An intellectual pride is incredibly dangerous because it makes us unteachable. If we are always the smartest person in the room, no one can teach us anything. We have nothing to learn. And this mindset easily gets us into trouble in biblical matters. If we think we know everything about God, we are showing our arrogance. But I’ve seen many people who walk away from faith do so on the basis of their own intelligence, completely disregarding the One who gave them the ability to reason.
But pride isn’t just a sin that attacks the unsaved. Christians are just as vulnerable and prone to it. We might be tempted to label it as confidence, the dressed up word that makes pride acceptable. Or maybe we blame our attitude to personality. “That’s just who I am.” But the root is pride.
In Proverbs, we read that pride is the opposite of humility. This might seem obvious, but how often do we try to appear humble while we boast in our greatness? This is also pride.
When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom. (Prov. 11:2)
A man’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor. (Prov. 29:23)
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)
By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom. (Prov. 13:10)
In the last verse, the “well-advised” is also translated as “those who receive counsel” or “those who take advice.” Notice that that is not an attribute given to the proud.
Another hallmark of a life lived in pride is a lack of gratitude. If we are focused on how great we are and all the things we can do, it’s difficult to look around and be thankful for the people and circumstances around us. In many ways, we might be tempted to think things are so great because WE are so great! Isn’t this what so many people call out in the wealthy? That arrogant, pompous, look at all my things attitude. And yet, even those much less rich can have this same attitude about their things.
And finally, pride can lead to so many more sins. An unteachable attitude will drive us from godly counsel and correction. A proud spirit belittles and disregards others. Pride gives the illusion of being above the law, being able to get away with things, and talking down to others. We don’t have to imagine what pride leads to because we see examples in the lives of celebrities and politicians and, sadly, ministry leaders. People who thought so highly of their position or intellect or power that they were unfaithful in their marriages, dishonest at work, gained money fraudulently. So many of the sins we see controlling others, and ourselves, can be traced back to an attitude of pride.
God feels so strongly against pride that he says in Proverbs 15:25, “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished.” That is a strong declaration that should bring us to our knees in humility!
How can we fight against pride? The first step is to realize we are all susceptible to it. We’ve already noted that pride comes in many forms and some might be more of a struggle for us than others. But we shouldn’t develop an over confidence in our ability to not be proud. We need to ask God to help us be humble and to point out ways that we are proud.
The next step is to accept correction. When someone points out sin in our lives, we need to prayerfully bring that to God. Even if we consider it more of a personality issue, or someone taking something the wrong way, we need to be humble enough to recognize that personality or preference doesn’t excuse sin. The fastest way to fall into pride is to believe there’s nothing wrong with us and it’s everyone else who has a problem.
Finally, the key to everything in our lives is to stay in God’s Word and in prayer. We need to daily be dwelling on the truth of the Bible and daily talking to our Lord. It is through these avenues that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin as we grow in our walk each day.
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