My dad says there are two kinds of pride. There’s the good kind of pride in your work or doing the best of your ability to accomplish a job well done. Then there’s the pride of life, that smug little sneering smile you see on some people that says, “I’m better than you.”
You’ve all known one or two people like this. The person who walks into a room and expects everyone to take notice and are a little put out when they don’t. This kind of person spends an enormous amount of time looking in the mirror. Life, more or less, revolves around them. The Bible calls them arrogant and says that arrogance is evil (James 4:13-15).
The people I’ve known who possess pride and arrogance are usually the saddest people I know. Outward appearances mean everything to them whether it’s the latest fashion, the best car, or even the smoothest skin. They’re perpetually late because they come just to be noticed. They accept the credit for everything good that happens in their life.
You might be thinking I’m being too critical. Maybe so, but sometimes we just need to take a good, solid look at ourselves and see if we possess any of these evil traits such as pride. Something we don’t do often enough, I’m afraid.
I can speak from experience on this subject. Growing up with two older siblings who excelled in everything, I was often told I would never amount to anything. I was too chubby, I possessed no talent, and I had few friends. What could anyone do with all of that? Nothing, from what I could tell.
Then I found Jesus. He told me just the opposite of what I’d been hearing. He told me He had given me gifts, talents, and abilities, and I could use these things to show people His love and compassion. He encouraged me and gave me a mate that was an extreme encourager, too. Going from one extreme to the other was great, but also a little troublesome for someone who had been told all her life she would never amount to a hill of beans!
But then I became prideful with the talents God gave me. I was prideful in my up-front position as a ministry leader and haughty in my attitude toward others. I used my talents in a way that brought glory only to me and God was not pleased. In one instance I was doing Vacation Bible School at a church for a week and absolutely nobody was getting saved. I thought, Man, what kind of a group is this? They’re just not listening. Then my best friend took hold of my shoulders, turned me around, and asked me this simple question, “You do realize that you’re not giving God any credit for anything this week, don’t you?”
The hammer came down…hard! All my prideful nature shattered to the floor with a resounding CLANG! I saw myself for what I had become and it wasn’t pretty. If I didn’t like myself then surely God didn’t like me either. How could I be acceptable in His sight the way I was? I started to pray. I asked God first of all to forgive me for being so prideful and wasting my talents building myself up. I asked Him to forgive me for accepting all the praise that belonged to Him! I gave myself back to God and asked Him to use me in a way that would honor His name and give Him glory.
The following summer, I did my first Vacation Bible School since the new me was born. I went into it with fear and trepidation but also with the knowledge that God was once again in control of my life. I should have known. He did the most amazing thing that week and I’ll never forget where I was or what happened. That week 31 kids came to know Jesus as their personal Savior! AMEN! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! I was thrilled, fulfilled, and humbled to the core.
How do you love a prideful person? You tell them the truth. You turn them around and hold them by their shoulders to help them face their pride head-on. You love them enough to tell them what a difference their life could make by putting Jesus first and themselves last. The truth may hurt for a while, but if the person has an open heart to God’s will for their life, they’ll see how they’ve missed the mark. Let them know you love them enough to confront them with the truth. A true friend will be glad you did!
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