Pride

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.

How can I cause others to see God’s goodness, love, and grace through my life?
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

Okay so we all remember that trite rhyme,

“First is the worst,

Second is the best,

and third is the one with the hairy chest.”

That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. First off, it had to have been written by a consistant loser. No one in their right mind thinks that second place is the best. That has got to be the worst feeling of all. You know in the olympics the guy on the lowest block (bronze) is praising God that he got on the block at all, the guy on top (gold) is feeling like the king of the world, and then there is the second place guy. He is without fail always ticked at being in second. But, according to this “cute” rhyme, he is the best. Hmm… I think not!

Am I all alone here?

Help me with this one. Have you ever been in second place? How about fourth? What about 354th? Yeah. Me too. How about when you don’t make the team, and you weren’t one place away from making it but more like three or four places away from making it. Or the promotion is open in your office and you throw your name in the ring with a fair level of expectance that you will get it and BOOM the guy from the copy room is now your boss.

How do you deal with the times when you best just doesn’t seem to be enough? I focus on two things.

The first is: Do not let pride gain any ground in your life!

Pride can ruin a person. Pride will convince you that you are better than they are, stronger than they are, prettier than they are and far more competent than they are. The Bible says that pride leads to destruction! Check out what 1 Peter 5:6 says…

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time.”

I love Proverbs 4:23-26…

“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established.”

I love this because this is what happens when you become arrogant and proud. You start shooting off your mouth, or belittling the person or group of people who beat you out. I love that line, “let your eyes look directly ahead and let you gaze be fixed straight in front of you.” That is focus. That is intention. That is get yourself back in gear, pick yourself up off the ground and get going again. Pride won’t ruin that kind of determination. Your timing is usually never God’s timing.

The second is: Commit it to God.

I don’t know what it is, I don’t care. Whatever effort you are putting forth commit it to God: your relationships, your teammates, your marriage, your school work, your employment, your family, I don’t care what it is, give it over to God. Check out the rest of 1 Peter 5:7…

“casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

Give it up. Don’t give up the dreams and goals. Give up the extraneous effort and wasted sleep over those very difficult moments. Give it up and give it over. Take a few steps back and breath.

Do the best you have with the time, and resources you have and trust that God will use it to accomplish His plan!

~Peter

How can I cause others to see God’s goodness, love, and grace through my life?

How can I honor God with my actions?