I always wondered what pride was. I looked up the definition and still couldn’t correlate what it meant for me or if I practiced it. This week, it was revealed to me that not only did I harbor pride, but I allowed it to birth self-righteous indignation within me. I sought disagreements in order to prove that I was morally superior in the name of God when God was nowhere in it. This week, God showed me the truth of the scripture found in Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
What is Pride?
Merriam-Webster has several definitions for pride. One of them is pleasure that comes from relationships, association, etc, while the archaic definition is attracting or seeking attention, admiration, or envy by tasteless showiness https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pride.
With the aforementioned definitions, we can safely conceptualize that practicing pride as a Christian means to find pleasure in our relationship with God by seeking attention, admiration, or envy by tasteless showiness of our beliefs. One of the reasons that I believe God is opposed to pride is because it provides indulgent pleasure in one’s self as opposed to glorification of Him. This self indulgent act and all others like it, push us further away from centering ourselves in God’s word and moves us towards centering ourselves in our world. The way I practiced pride also gave birth to self-righteous indignation.
Self-righteous indignation is the a type of anger fueled by the belief that one is morally superior to others. It leaves no room for compassion, understanding, or connection and if you’re a Christian practicing this, it can push others away from the One True God.
Stop Pride
To stop pride from growing within and around you, you must take the time to self-reflect. Lamentations 3:40 states Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
This is not a once in a lifetime call but a consistent call on us to look at the deepest parts of our hearts and see the truth within them. The belief that we are always good and always working the Will of God can mislead us and prevent us from self-examination, something that we are instructed to do as Christians. We must always call on God to direct our path and show us the truth of ourselves so that we can turn to him in honesty and humility regarding our spiritual state. Only then can He do a good work within us and only then can His work be visible to those around us.
If you have practiced pride, self-righteous indignation, or haughtiness, you can turn to God and ask for forgiveness and the path toward removing these obstacles in your life. For me, I was deeply ashamed, embarrassed and I felt like I failed in a major way. To put it simply, I fell on my face pretty hard. Gracefully and mercifully, God provided me with repentance and forgiveness. He showed me Love when I didn’t deserve it and I can only hopefully pray that those who I spoke to are free from the mark of my foolishness against God.
Proverbs 29:23
One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
With Love,
Mother Ocia