Overcoming Pride

 

Pride is a distorted view of self. This causes problems in all of our relationships. We will examine pride in our relationship with the Lord, with others, and with self.

Relationship with the Lord

When Adam and Eve sinned, instead of repenting from their sin, Eve blamed the serpent, and Adam blamed God by saying, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” Genesis 3:12

Generally, one who is proud has a tendency on concentrating on God’s love and mercy and how special they are to the Lord. They don’t like to focus on God’s commands or discipline. There is a tendency to think that because they are special to God, they can make a lot of mistakes, overstep God’s boundaries, thinking God will be gracious to them without holding them accountable.

In Relationship to others

Proud people like to think they deserve more and deserve favor. They can have high expectations of others but low expectations of themselves. They can justify their bad behavior because it is usually someone else’s fault, or their part was very small compared to the other person.

There are two different sides to pride, “the victim” and “the fighter”. The victim says, “I don’t deserve this mistreatment.”, or “Why is this happening to me again?”  The other side of pride is the militaristic, judgmental, person who can quickly judge others based on their point of view, causing strife and unnecessary division. They would say something like, “That’s their fault. They sinned and they are responsible for it. I don’t need to be around people like that.”, or “How dare they do this to me?” They don’t mind cutting off relationships in the name of “truth” or “justice”.

Pride causes huge blind spots. We are so focused on what we see that we miss seeing the whole picture. A proud person is generally one-sided. This means they have little understanding as to how their actions impact others.  We must try to put ourselves in other people’s shoes rather than expecting others to put themselves in our shoes!! As the scripture tells us, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39

Relationship to Self

Pride gives an inflated view of self. Proud people think, they are right, the capable ones,  and others somehow are less or unworthy. Self becomes the lens that one sees everything through. This causes  a proud person to ask questions such as:” why did they say that ?” or “why doesn’t anyone care about me?”.

The Scripture tells us, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”Philippians 2:3

That’s difficult for the proud person, who must fight this internal battle in order to overcome self and do what the Bible tells us to.

In the earlier devotional,  I discussed having the proper security in our relationship with the Lord. Here I would like to discuss some of the things we can do to overcome pride in the way we relate to others:

1. Don’t be quick to cut off relationships. As hard as it is, work on reconciliation and peace.

2. When situations arise that causes you to go to the place of being a victim or a fighter, ask yourself:

What is my part in this situation? Did I do anything to contribute to the problem? Could this have been avoided if I had dealt with some of the issues earlier on?

This is a difficult thing to do because every part of you wants to defend yourself or try to explain that you were wronged. But it is an important step because the scripture tells us, “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?” Luke 6:41

3. Become a great listener. Once we have dealt with our part and repented, we are in a more humble position. If needed, we must confront the offense by talking to the person (Matthew 18:15). You need to make an effort to hear the other person’s point of view and not press your own point of view.

4. Work on building a bridge rather than pointing out the difference. If we are going to be the kind of people who will be known by our love towards one another, we must work on finding our common union rather than our personal differences.  Recognizing that each person is valuable and has something to offer is our responsibility.

5. Finally, we must learn to submit to one another. Don’t get too caught up in your position or others’ position. While those in authority should be respected, scripture clearly tells us that we should submit one to another.

Pride is a stronghold that we must war against. No one is immune from this. Pride will not go away casually; it will require a great resolve and courage to annihilate it!!