On Pride

 

Pride is one of the greatest drawbacks in the life of humans. It comes top on the list of the 7 deadly sins. It's so subtle and dangerous that it is often confused with self respect, love for self and even admiration for oneself.

Pride makes you feel as though you are better than someone else by virtue of the things you have or what you have achieved. And that in itself subconsciously creates a need to expect better privileges than others because you feel you are more "special" than other people.

Even the best of people often fall to this. There are ones who claim to be too spiritual to relate to other people. That too is often an unnoticeable form of pride. You know you have pride when you see other people as lesser than you are and that puts you in a position where you are very likely to become insensitive to them.

Pride too can keep one from moving higher in life.. because God resists the proud and exalts the humble. Now there is something that must be pointed out. Believing that you are able to do something through the grace of God in you is not same as pride. Believing you will overcome any obstacles that come your way by virtue of God's grace in you is not pride. 

There is a difference between healthy beliefs rooted in your trust in God from pride which makes you see yourself as what you feel you are based on the material stuff and not what God has made you.

We all need to be very cautious of pride. A quick check is to ask ourselves if we are taking glory for what we have achieved or gotten rather than giving that glory to the one who allowed us to even have it in the first place!

Of course we should feel good about what we have achieved.. but it must be backed by the consciousness that it's not us, but rather the grace of God which made it so.

Proverbs 16:18 says "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

What is a haughty spirit? A haughty spirit is one that feels arrogantly superior to others. If you feel you are far better than other people, that's pride! I myself have fallen for this too sometimes. But the important thing is that you figure out that this is taking root in you, you cut it off.

Our success, money, achievements, fame and all externally accumulated stuff do not make us better than anyone else. We must begin to see every other human being as an extension of ourselves! If you see another person as yourself, you will naturally love them. Because just as you want the best things for your own self, you will understand what they want and show them love!

That is why pride is one of the deadliest sins because it kills love! If you are proud, you cannot love, you cannot be patient, you cannot tolerate and you can not even do stuff for others! That is what happens if you become proud!

You will become too self-conceited and self-absorbed that you cannot even see the person next to you who is an extension of you. There is no room for genuine love when pride is around!

While typing the above paragraphs, I was tempted to use the phrase "too much pride", but then it dawned on me that there is no such thing as "moderate" or "nice" pride either! Pride is pride and it is deadly to be proud of anything outside of God. We should be happy and celebrate our successes, but acknowledging God who granted us that grace in the first place rather than glorying in ourselves and abilities.

Think about it. Reflect in your life to see areas that pride must have seeped into and have a strategy and plan to curb it today! None of us is perfect, but awareness is the beginning of real change. The only reason to ever be proud of anything should be in the magnificence and mercy of the Almighty God. Nothing else is worth boasting about. 

We should rather build a culture of constant gratitude to God and see people as ourselves. What you would want another person to do for you, be ready to also do it for them! That's a way to destroy pride. Ma God help us all avoid this dangerous vice and love people genuinely!

Destroy pride in you and keep winning!

Until next time,

Ike Nigel.O