“Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” — Proverbs 11:2
“For pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.” -Timothy Keller
The dictionary defines pride as “a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in conduct, etc.”
Pride is thinking only of yourself all the time. It bolsters attitudes and thoughts like: you “can’t be wrong” or you “have to be the best.” Inversely, pride rears its head when you think you are “always wrong” and “not good at anything.” In either scenario, your eyes are only on yourself.
Additionally, pride shatters authentic friendship, destroys the ability to be honest and transparent, ruins closeness, and is very competitive.
Consider this. If I am a proud man, then as long as one man in the world is more powerful, wealthy, intelligent, or talented than I am, he becomes my rival and enemy.
Pride always means division and separation — not only between man and man but between God and us. At the same time, pride fights to make us look good; it puts on a “show” for everyone else.
The Opposite is Humility
As you know, the opposite of pride is humility. The dictionary definition of humility is “to lower in condition, importance, or dignity.” In other words, humility is thinking of yourself less rather than thinking less of yourself.
Ultimately this matters because humility is the pathway to joy. When we walk in humility, we walk in step with the Lord Jesus Christ. To walk in humility is to be within the circle of God’s blessing.
“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” — Philippians 2:3-5
Humility recognizes you don’t always need to be correct — to know it all. You apologize for being wrong and don’t pretend to be the best at everything. What is more, you can have real friendships without having to “prove” yourself.
The point is God wants you to know Him and walk in the circle of His blessing. As you do, you will inevitably become humble—wonderfully humble! You will feel the infinite relief of ridding yourself of your inflated ego (which makes us restless and unhappy in life).
The Lord asks us to walk in humility so we can enjoy life. We take off all the silly, ugly selfishness that makes us strut around like little fools. Even for a moment, getting near humility is like a drink of cold water in the desert.
His Word Gives Freedom
When we know God’s Word, we can walk in the freedom humility provides. As we walk away from pride (leading to our bondage and destruction), we head down the pathway of joy.
I love this quote from C.S. Lewis:
“In God, you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
This week, look for ways to walk in humility. You just might find yourself jumping for joy.
Walking with you,
Posted in A Word from the Pastor