Pride
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Pride is a confusing thing in our culture. We’re told we should have it, but we can also think of so many ways that it is unattractive…
It’s good to believe in yourself and have confidence in what you’re doing, but it’s not good to refuse to let others help you get better.
After looking at what Proverbs has to say about pride, I think the way that Solomon would define
Pride is thinking that you always know what is best and never listening to anyone else. This is the opposite of wisdom.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.
Truth be told, I can be prideful some times. Especially with small things. I’ll get really sure that I know how something works or where something is or the directions to somewhere. It has not been an uncommon thing for Kristen to tell me I’m confused about something. I’m starting to get a little wiser and listen to her more, but usually I refuse to consider that I’m wrong. Sometimes I don’t even let her tell me. And I have gotten really acquainted with the humiliating feeling of having been so certain that I was right and then having to go and tell her that she was right.
But you know it makes her feel good, so I keep doing it because I love her and I want her to feel good! But if I were wiser, then I would listen to her and consider the possibility that I could always be wrong!
Proverbs is very clear that pride is a bad thing.
Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.
It’s saying that a wicked person is led by their pride and it’s sinful.
Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
In fact, you don’t even want to wrapped up with a proud person:
It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs is full of warnings about pride, and I think they collectively tell us this:
The proud person is a deceived fool.
The proud person is a deceived fool.
PRAY
So let’s see why pride is a bad thing.
God isn’t on the side of the proud.
God isn’t on the side of the proud.
He doesn’t want us to be led by an inflated opinion of ourselves.
Think about how you feel when someone thinks they’re the best thing since the internet. You want to see them humbled a little, right? When I’m competing in something, doesn’t matter what it is, if I see someone being arrogant and proclaiming that they’re the best, they just became my motivation to win. Anyone else?
So if we as sinful humans feel that way about it, think about how God, the only one who truly has a right to be offended by pride, feels about it.
The Lord tears down the house of the proud but maintains the widow’s boundaries.
And just to make sure we’re clear…
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.
God created us to be dependent on Him because He wants to share his goodness with us, so when we act like we don’t need anyone’s help it is a rejection of his goodness to us.
Think about what Adam and Eve were saying in the Garden of Eden when they were given everything except for one tree and they took from the one tree…
I deserve it all.
You don’t know what’s best for me.
I can do better for myself than you can.
Sin is rebellion against God, a refusal to submit to his leadership in our lives. That comes from pride.
So we need to learn to recognize pride in our lives and our hearts so we can fight against the enemies attempts draw us into it like he did Adam and Eve…
Pride is not good for us. Pride often…
Pride precedes disgrace.
Pride precedes disgrace.
I believe the more prideful we are, the more disgrace we will end up with.
There’s this old golf movie (Tin Cup) about a golf instructor in Arizona or somewhere out west and he decides to go out and try to qualify for the PGA Tour and he makes it. He’s playing really well and he gets to play in the US Open tournament. He ends up with the lead on the last day of the tournament and the chance to win the tournament, but he gets to the last hole and his pride kicks in…
The shot was incredible, but more people are going to be thinking about the millions of dollars and US Open championship he missed out on in his pride. He looked like a fool.
Pride will eventually lead us into humiliation.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
We are human. We will, not might, but will make mistakes because we are sinful. When we refuse to admit that we can mess up, then when we do mess up we are disgraced in our pride.
Pride tells us that we don’t make mistakes and we know best, so we don’t need to receive help or direction from anyone else. Pride blinds us to our own inability. When we’re blind we can’t see what’s in front of us.
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Pride will blind you and make you fall. We have to understand that there are people who know better than us, who can help us, who can see things we are missing.
We need to humble ourselves or we will hurt ourselves.
One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
The answer to pride is to look to the Lord.
The answer to pride is to look to the Lord.
We have to acknowledge our need for Him. We have to acknowledge that He knows better than we do.
Prov3.5-8 - “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”
That begins with trusting Him when He tells us we are sinners in need of the forgiveness offerred through Jesus. We’ve seen that pride is sinful, and our sins separate us from God. But He invites us to humbly return to Him and have our relationship with Him restored…