C.S. Lewis explained it best. He said that pride is so dangerous because the person who is guilty of it will not see it in themselves, but knows where it is in everyone else.
Pride is the belief that you and your agenda is worth more on your own effort than on any other source. It's a harmful sin that bleeds a human dry of mercy, clear thinking and compassion, and replaces it with pure personal drive. Pride can keep a leader from stopping a war or it can keep a son from stopping a feud. It is a personal voice in your head that screams, "are you going to let him talk to you like that," or "Are you going to stop now that you've gone this far?" It's not as easy as a red devil on your back telling you lies, but it is a deep dyed tattoo on your soul. It can be painful to remove because the bearer needs to recognize it and turn it off immediately. Ultimately, pride is what keeps God from giving you any of his blessing because you are hellbent on getting it for yourself. Finally, when a life is spent on pride, it realizes that it turned down all of the Lord's promises for its own volition.
The anti pride is humility. A voice that says, "I am nothing without you," "I am only what the Lord tells me I am," and "I have earned nothing without your love." Our humility starts at the cross where we figure out that our value score is in the negatives and only made worth something through Jesus. When humility manifests itself through a life of a person, they stop caring what others think about them and freely live by the kindness given to them as a gift. It can be seen through the politician that apologizes for a mistake or the co-worker that can take criticism from anyone. Finally, the man of humility realizes that they have gained everything from the Lord and nothing was withheld from them.
The downfall is that pride hurts like hell. How dare our customers be unsatisfied with our work? I can't forgive my mom, she will never learn. I want the world to see how great I am. It almost feels like the people around us are chipping away our stony perceived self and revealing a insecure, faulty human being underneath. For that we must pray that God would love the human being underneath our prideful exterior so that we find more value in what God cherishes then what we want to be on our own. God be with you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment