The problem with pride
Nuggets of knowledge article 7
Blessed morning everyone and welcome to yet another installment of the Nuggets of knowledge series here at metanoiameans.com!
Today, we are going to talk about what I believe is the most spiritually-devastating thing a person of true faith can come across and have to deal with: pride.
Before we can truly begin to discuss it, we must first define it.
Pride:
- a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
- consciousness of one’s own dignity.
- confidence and self-respect as expressed by members of a group, typically one that has been socially marginalized, on the basis of their shared identity, culture, and experience.
- the best state or condition of something; the prime.
- extreme love and focus on oneself.
Immediately after reading those definitions, I see only one thing. I see that pride is nothing more than focus on and adoration of self. It is taking credit for the things that God does in your life as if you were the one who did them or made them possible.
Those of us who truly follow God with great fervency and earnest commitment know that pride is nothing more than another trick of the devil. We may not be immune to it but we know it’s there and we keep a watchful eye out for it in ourselves. There are many verses in the Bible about pride, here are a few that show just how bad it can be.
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
2 Chronicles 26:16
But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Psalm 31:23
Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 29:23
One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
We as Christians, followers of Christ, should never let ourselves be overtaken by pride but instead thankfulness for the gifts that God gives us and the favor that he shows us.
In my life experience I have noticed that pride begins as something not so bad, like a child feeling proud after getting an “A” on a math test or an adult feeling proud after getting a promotion at work… but when we don’t attribute these things to God, when we take the credit, that is, when pride (in definitions 1 and 5) begins to grow.
But why is pride a bad thing?
It’s because it shifts our focus from God, the one who created us and our lives to ourselves and feeds us a lie that says we did it all on our own.
As I said, God created us, and our lives. He knows everything about our lives and has known it all for all eternity. He knows where we will succeed and where we will fail along with the lessons we will learn in each case. He knows all of this because he himself thought it all up and brought it all into existence. Taking any credit for what God has done with our lives at any point is like taking the credit for a book you didn’t write. It’s both inaccurate and morally wrong.
Now, I am not saying that we cannot enjoy the fruits of the hard work that was put into something and I am not saying that we cannot be happy about things that go in our favor in our lives. What I am saying is that we have to remember that we have done NOTHING to deserve being prideful and will NEVER do anything to deserve that right. That right belongs to God and God alone.
Psalm 30:12
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
Psalm 86:12
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.
Daniel 2:23
To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Pride is one of the silent killers of our eternal reward.
Why? Because it can sneak up on us silently.
It can even take root in ministry. A pastor who was overseeing a struggling if not dying church who saw a surge of membership and saw the church turn around could take pride in that and think it was because of something they did.
A worship leader could begin to think themselves a star and that “their” music and worship performances (yes, the choice of that word has a point, to be covered in a future article) are what keeps membership in the church high and seats full.
Even someone like the church treasurer could end up being prideful, they can come to be prideful about how they have been managing the finances of the church and think that they are the only thing keeping it going.
Pride can and will strike any time we feel we did something on our own.
In fact, that thought alone, doing anything on your own is prideful in and of itself. Any accomplishment that God gives us can lead to pride and that is why we must keep a watchful eye out for it.
Pride is a very “me-centric” emotion. It will take the focus from He (God) and turn it to me (self); that very thing is what got lucifer thrown from heaven and down to earth below.
lucifer gave in to the pride that had built up inside of him so God removed everything He had given to him leaving him with nothing. he had a choice and he chose to give in to pride.
We have the same choice and just like lucifer, choosing pride will get us fried.
The story of lucifer’s fall from heaven shows his prideful attitude and its result.
On top of that, Ezekiel 28:13-18 contains a prophecy against the king of Tyre, highlighting his pride and eventual downfall, with some interpretations suggesting an analogy to the fall of Satan.
With the king of Tyre being the subject of this portion of scripture it shows that pride can and will affect us just as it did with lucifer if we do not bring it to God and give Him the glory for the things He does in our lives instead of taking it for ourselves.
While all true, the majority of this article has only shown examples of pride within the times mentioned in scripture. One must ask, what does pride look like in the modern day context? To explore that, let’s refer back to the definition of the word before looking at some examples.
Pride:
a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
consciousness of one’s own dignity.
confidence and self-respect as expressed by members of a group, typically one that has been socially marginalized, on the basis of their shared identity, culture, and experience.
the best state or condition of something; the prime.
extreme love and focus on oneself
I have been doing a lot of research on pride in preparation for this article and I have found that there are actually 50 types of pride, according to one author. A full article on them can be found here. However, I will be using a portion of the list itself in this article.
1. Want to be Well Known or Important (Isaiah 14:13-15; James 3:13-16; Romans 12:6)
2. Self-pity
3. Want to Impress People (Luke 10:38-42)
4. Draw Attention to Myself (Proverbs 27:2)
5. Like to Talk About Myself
6. Deceitful and Pretentious (Psalm 24:3-4, 26:2-4; Jeremiah 48:10; Proverbs 26:20-26)
7. Desire Recognition and Praise (John 5:41-44; Matthew 6:1, 23:5-7)
8. Not Fulfilled Serving Others (John 3:30)
9. Self-Sufficient (Matthew 4:4; John 15:5; Acts 17:25; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
10. Anxious (Psalm 4:8; Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:6-7)
11. Self-Focused (Exodus 4:11; Job 10:8-11; Psalm 139:13-16; Isaiah 53:2; Jeremiah 1:5)
(Source: https://grace.sc/resources/articles/pride/)
If you read each of these forms of pride, you can see that all of them fall within one or more of the definitions of pride. Each of these is also easy for us to fall into.
Take myself for example, I’m sure I have fallen into more forms of pride than these, but a few of the ones from this list, numbers 1, 3, 7, 9, and 11 were really prevalent in my life before I decided to give my life to Christ and also things I am still working on to this day.
Here are some examples of pride that I myself had to deal with using the previously mentioned types that I struggle/have struggled with.
- Want to be well known or important- when I was a child, specifically middle school through high school, I wanted to be well known by people. So, I took great pride in my work in my favorite subjects in school. (history and english) I was constantly studying and writing, not so much because I wanted good grades in school or that it was fun for me but because I wanted people to tell me how much they liked my writing or to be surprised at how many historical facts I knew. This prideful thing stuck with me for years. But once I gave my life to Jesus, and began to devote myself to him to devote my time to scripture, studying and prayer, I began to realize that seeking recognition, wanting to be known by the world is not what I should be seeking. it would’ve ended with me being known by the world, but unknown1 by God. “Depart from me, I never knew you”2 would have been all3 I heard out of his mouth on judgment day. I thank God every day that I won’t be hearing that. I thank him every day that he gives me the opportunities to get to know him, and to forsake the world’s recognition and praise in favor of his own.
3. Want to impress people- a case can be made to say that this one can be included in with the first example which is true but this one manifested itself in my life in a different way. In my early 20s I had been struggling with feeling accomplished, feeling as though I mattered, depression and a few other things. All of these things were proven to be demonic once I gave my life to Jesus and he brought me out of each of them but pride was at the forefront of all of them. The way that I thought I could ease all of these things was to flaunt the money that I had by buying different expensive items that people around me could not afford. Fragrances and alcohol of outrageously high prices (which I could not afford) were usually my flaunt items of choice. I would save up multiple paychecks so that I could buy these items with price tags no less than $350 for a single item. This began when my pride in myself was wounded by a careless and prideful comment that was made by a relative of mine. This one is closely tied to the previous one. Actually, my whole view on this prideful thing changed the more I spent time with God. He changed my heart and made it so that I really don’t care whether I impress people or not. All I really want is to please him and that is what we as Christians should truly focus on, our relationship with God, not that of the world.
7. desire for recognition and praise- while the other two examples I gave have been dealt with, this one still peeks its ugly little head out from time to time. I thank our gracious LORD Jesus that through his Holy Spirit, he continues to work on my heart with this issue of pride. We all love to get compliments for our work which is in itself prideful but I struggle with almost needing and being addicted to them. The best example I can give out of my life is actually this series, nuggets of knowledge. I try to write one of these at least every other week and each time I finish one, I like to print it out and have close friends and co workers read them. I like to have them read them to catch grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and such like that but I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel pride when they finished and would tell me positive things about what was written. The world only gives you praise when you’re falling in line with what it wants and what it wants is the opposite of what God wants. Let God and his praise, let God and his recognition be all that you seek in this life and eternity to come.
9. self-sufficiency- as a child I lived a very coddled and protected life because I was born with a handful of disabilities. I had many things done for me that normal children could do on their own. I was told I couldn’t even attempt some things like taking a sport or playing certain games with friends for fear of injury. All of this was done in love by my parents but it developed a need in me, a prideful need to prove to myself and others that I could be self-sufficient. Worst of all though I do believe this is what drove me away from and kept me away from god for 2 full decades. I didn’t want to be told what to do anymore, I did not want to be controlled (perceived) in any way whatsoever anymore and I refused to be subjugated. All out of pride in myself. This took me a while to learn, but as a Christian, I am not self-sufficient and that is exactly how God wants it. I am not self-sufficient. I am God-dependent, and I am proud of it. Read through his word, listen to his voice that speaks to you through it. You will see that self-sufficiency is impossible but with God-dependency, nothing is out of our reach.
11. self-focus-this is another issue of pride that I still deal with BUT I thank the lord every day that it is not what it once was, it is not what it used to be. Thank you, my gracious lord Jesus! My desires, my needs, my wants were once all I focused on. I couldn’t care less how my decisions affected anyone else. This is for sure not how a follower of Jesus should act. In fact, it is the opposite. Now, I have learned to think of others when I make most of my decisions and how my decisions might affect those around me. This I still struggle with, but it’s less than what it once was as previously stated. Don’t let yourself be stuck in this train of thought that only focuses on you. God didn’t do that, he sent Jesus to save us from our sins because he was thinking of us instead of himself. He sacrificed his only son so that we might be saved. If he could do that, if he could cause himself such great pain for our good, who are we to dare think we should be the focus of our attention? We should spend every waking moment, thanking him, worshiping him and praising him for all that he does for us, all that he has done for us, all that he will do for us and just because he is who he is. He tells us to love everyone, including our enemies. The only way we can do that, the only way we can accomplish that directive and make him proud, the only one who deserves to be proud is if we first stop focusing on ourselves and start seeing who and what is around us and how we as Christians can improve what we see. How can we? By calling out to God and listening to what he has to say.
For us all as Christians– from those who are new to the faith all the way to seasoned believers–every day is a fight. It’s a fight to do what GOD says is right. It’s only through his love, grace and mercy that we can even live so we don’t have the room or the right to be prideful about anything. It is difficult, yes, but we can do it, we can resist the devil and each of his tricks including pride. As Philippians 4:13 states “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
- The verses about being a “lukewarm” believer and follower Of Jesus are horrifying: Check them out in the two links below. ↩︎
- https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207%3A21-23&version=ESV ↩︎
- https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%203%3A15-18&version=ESV
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