Honest moment: Pride can sneak in my life so fast and so furious. Recently I had the opportunity to share with our church what God has been teaching me through the loss of my dad. I was able to share how God has been growing my trust in Him and how much we need to rely on Him. It felt good. I loved doing it. It was exciting to know that my story and my pain was not wasted. Believe me, It felt good to hear from people that it made a difference.
Recently someone came to Liquid Nutley and on the way out she shook my hand and said, “I feel like you are so famous! I watched you online. I loved your sermon.” For a split second it felt good. I’ll even admit that for a few seconds I allowed that to sink in and I enjoyed it. Then quickly I brought her back to reality by saying, “NO, NO, I am anything but famous. Seriously, I am just like you. I have a story to tell about how God has redeemed me.”
WHOAH, close call.
Pride encourages you to believe your tweeted quotes, your retweets, Instagram notifications, and all the Facebook posts that sing your praises. Humility encourages you to ruthlessly deflect those poisonous arrows. They are meant for good, but man they can do a number on your ego. When pricked by an arrow laced with pride, your head tends to swell up like a pimple that needs a good popping.
Jen Hatmaker has said in her book 7,
“When the jars of clay remember they are jars of clay, the treasure within gets all the glory, which seems somehow more fitting.”
Pride tempts me to believe that I am something really important, when in reality, the work that God is doing in me is what is important. In order to keep this in check, I ask myself two questions.
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How can I cause others to see God’s goodness, love, and grace through my life?
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How can I honor God with my actions?
This is one area that I desperately work hard on. Because if not kept in check, I can easily believe that God is who He is because I somehow allowed Him to be. Pride is a killer. Don’t forget what Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”
~Peter
