Any Reason for Pride?

One of the pitfalls of human beings is pride, that sense of thinking of yourself more highly than you ought. This is something that has affected the human race since the time of the fall. It was part of the trick of the enemy to make man sin. He suggested that we were to be like God and thus not need Him anymore. In other words, we were to be our own gods. We take pride in who we are, what we have and what we have accomplished. However, if we were to take a deep reflection, we would realise that all of these come from God.

This is what God told the people of Israel; that they are who they are (His people, His treasured possession) not because they were more in numbers but because He loved them and wanted to keep His promises to their ancestors (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). He also warned them not to take pride in their possession in the promised land and thus forget their God (Deuteronomy 8:11-18).

In verse 18, He made it clear that it is He [the Lord Your God] who gives you power to get wealth. He also promised them victory over nations mightier and strong than them and with cities great and fortified up to heaven. And He gave them a clear warning to not take pride in the achievement that awaited them: ‘Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, “It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,” … Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, … Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people’ (Deuteronomy 9:4-6).

Often, we fall in the trap of the enemy and start taking pride in who we are, our achievements and what we possess. At times, we are even tempted to think that it is out of our righteousness that we are where we are. However, as the Bible warns, we have to turn the lens from ourselves back to the true source of our lives, abilities and possessions: Father God. As C. S. Lewis said, ‘humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.’ The antidote of pride is turning our focus on the Father God who has made us who we are, given us all we have and enabled us to accomplish what we have accomplished.

Prayer: Father God forgive me for the times I have taken Your glory by being prideful about whom You have made me, what You have given me and what You have done through me. Help me to turn my focus to You, the source of everything and to give You glory in everything I am and will ever be, in what I have and will ever have; and in all I have achieved and will ever achieve. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.