It's Brought Me So Far

One pastor said he recently took a 45-minute drive in an old, beat-up van with a guy He barely knew. Along the way they ended up talking about Jesus and whether this man would give his life to Christ. His response laid out humanity's resistance to the gospel with striking clarity. He said, "My biggest problem is pride. I can't humble myself. And you wanna know the reason I can't give up my pride?" He leaned up onto the steering wheel and paused for effect. "Because it's brought me so far."

The pastor said, “I couldn't believe my ears. I knew that his pride had brought nothing but great pain. It was all he held onto while growing up in gangs—while his father died of a drug overdose and his mother was in the mafia. I knew that this self-made man beat his wife regularly, that he was unemployed, that he had just gotten out of prison. In fact, I found out a week later that he was on his way back into prison!”

In a separate conversation, this pastor said that the man’s wife had told him that his young daughters are terrified of him, that he is an alcoholic, and that she is planning to leave him. She even told him that the old van the guy was driving was going to be repossessed in a week.

The pastor went on to say,

Yet despite all our differences, I couldn't help but notice that in some ways, this guy and I are similar. I struggle to lay down my pride, because it's brought me so far—or so I think. What it's really brought both him and me—and you, no doubt—is pain, isolation, and ruined relationships.