PRIDE . . . DEFINED. #pride #humility #jesus
Channel: Very Small Picture of a Very Big God
Date: 02/02/2024

Why do I build up in me . . . the same trait that annoys me in others?

Here's a way to understand it and to recognize when we are tempted to do it.

#pride #humility #jesus
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And a few more thoughts:

THE PROBLEM WITH PRIDE

Of all my character traits, my pride is the most twisted and senseless.

For some strange reason, I hate to see it in other people, but I am
always trying to build it up in myself.

I am offended by an arrogant person . . . but then I won’t admit when I have made a mistake.

I get frustrated with someone who won’t admit they are wrong, but then I
persuade myself that my own wrongful actions are “justified”.

I let people know how good I am at something, but then I get upset
when someone else brags about themselves!

After watching my pride cripple or destroy so many relationships, you would think I would have overcome it by now. But even though I hate my pride more than anything, it doesn’t make it any easier to admit when I am wrong.

There is something so persuasive about my pride that it can prevent me from seeing who I really am. So I have always wondered . . . if I can’t even see the truth about myself, then what else does my pride prevent me from seeing?

Here's a definition of pride for consideration:

The willingness to DECEIVE ourselves . . . so we can feel better ABOUT ourselves.

Regardless of whether we think highly of ourselves or not, pride steps forward any time we twist or deny reality to build ourselves up or defend our self-image. It is a form of self-deception that happens in such small increments, that we don’t even realize that it is leading us further from recognizing the truth.

Pride builds up our self-worth for the moment, but the long-term consequences of denying the truth can be devastating. Each minor self-deception creates a distorted picture of our world that is less true than the picture before it. Eventually, these minor self-deceptions can build on each other to the point where the only things that seem true to us are the things that are false.

PRIDEFUL DECISIONS are conscious choices we make to twist or deny the truth whenever we don’t like how it would make us feel. We are aware of these prideful decisions as we are making them, but once we have decided to believe what is false, it further distorts our picture of ourselves and of life. Prideful decisions can be as obvious as justifying something we did that was hurtful, or as subtle as believing that a need or desire or ours, is more important than someone else’s.

PRIDEFUL ATTITUDES, on the other hand, are something we are not usually aware of because they are a result of all our prideful decisions. We are only aware that we are deceiving ourselves AS we make a prideful decision. After that, we become self-deceived and our attitude drifts further from the truth. That’s why we can always see stubborn, arrogant, selfish or controlling attitudes in other people, but we have such a hard time seeing these things in ourselves.

Our subconscious, PRIDEFUL ATTITUDES become increasingly more deceived with every PRIDEFUL DECISION to twist or deny the truth.

God loves us and wants us to know Him, but He is the God of truth. If we choose to build up our self-worth at the expense of the truth, we put ourselves in opposition to Him.

The Bible says that 'God is opposed to the proud, but that He gives grace to the humble.' (1 Peter 5:5b)

The last thing I want is to be opposed to my Creator. But if I am so blissfully unaware of the prideful attitudes that keep me from knowing Him, then I could be opposed to Him without even knowing it!

Fortunately, if God is anything like the Bible describes Him, then all He wants is for us to take a few steps in His direction so we will recognize Him when He reaches out to us. It’s a pretty basic concept, actually. If we are looking for the God of truth, we aren’t going to find Him if our desire to feel good about ourselves overrides our desire to see ourselves as we really are.

This doesn’t mean God wants us to feel badly about ourselves. He wants us to feel better about ourselves then we could ever imagine – just never at the expense of the truth.

The Bible says that if we 'Draw near to God . . . He will draw near to us' (James 4:8)

If we build ourselves up in our own way at the expense of the truth, it might feel good for a while, but the bible says that it leads to the destruction of our lives.

If we "humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God" it says that 'HE will lift us up' in a way that is far more meaningful and long lasting than we could ever come up with on our own. (1 Peter 5:6)