Pride is one of the leading obstacles to a satisfying prayer life and vibrant walk with the Lord. How's your Pride coming?
This is adapted from a Wednesday night lesson I gave a few weeks ago at my church.
The late, great evangelist Billy Sunday once said: “Pride keeps us from proper prayer. Being chesty and big-headed is responsible for more failures than anything else in this world.”
C.S. Lewis expalined why: "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you."
What is Pride? According to my handy dictionary, pride is "a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc."
The Bible treats pride very seriously. It was, after all, pride that brought Lucifer down. The first sin ever committed was one of pride (Isaiah 14:13). The psalmist explains: "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” (Psalm 10:4)
Of course, someone reading this will likely say, "I'm not wicked. I'm not consumed with pride."
Picture humility and pride on a continuum – a line. Very few people are all the way on one side or the other. Most people are on various points along that chain. Every one of us has manifested undue pride at one time or another, and every one of us is prone to self-centered thinking.
In Proverbs, we learn that one of the indicators of pride is a "froward mouth" - in other words, talking more than one listens. My mother used to remind me that we have two ears and one mouth - and we should therefore listen twice as much as we speak. Proverbs repeatedly commands us to "Hear instruction." We can't do that if we're always talking.
Another warning sign or indication of pride is being puffed up or, as Billy Sunday would say, "chesty." We shouldn't take ourselves so seriously that we think the world revolves around us or that we have all of life figured out. Because, it doesn't and we don't.
Another warning sign is contentiousness or division (Proverbs 13:10). People looking for an argument - looking to stir up strife - are often motivated by pride. They want everyone else to hear, understand, and learn from THEM. I am reminded of the wisdom of Stephen Covey who named as one of the essential seven habits of success: "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."
This doesn't mean that we shouldn't stand firm for our convictions, but we can do so humbly. When Nathan Hale was hung for spying behind enemy lines, he didn't beg for his own life - so he could continue to live on. Rather, he defiantly said: "I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." His allegiance was to a higher cause than himself.
The book of James says that God "resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6). Always, remember who you are living for. It should NOT be for yourself. Your life was given to you by God, and you should give it back to Him. That is the key to living a life of selflessness and not being corrupted and ruined by the sin of pride.
