The Problem with Pride

Yes, that’s my house. I built it myself (with a lot of help from my friends. (Some of them are still my friends.)) I take pride in it, a sense of accomplishment and of a job well done. At the same time I know that I am not, and have not done anything that makes me, special. Kept in check in moderate amounts, this is a good healthy pride that everyone should experience to some extent. But God is not always pleased with human pride.

Proverbs 6:16-19 lists seven things that are an “abomination” to God. Almost as if to make sure we don’t miss it, the first one on the list is, “a proud look.” We’ve all seen it before, that sneering, head held high, haughty look from a person who seems to be overwhelmed with a sense of their own importance. My guess is you’re impression of it is very similar to God’s.

The pride that God abhors is a pride that is built upon and promotes falsehood. It is damaging to the individual that has the pride because it lies to the individual about his or her own importance. Their pride has them believing that they are special and more significant than is actually the case. They see themselves on a pedestal, above others, and disconnected from them because they are better.

Their pride not only affects their view of themselves, it also extends to their view of other people. Just as through their pride they see themselves on a pedestal, so through their pride they see others demoted to a lower station. Worst of all, due to their sense of self-importance transcending reality, they see no real significance and attach no importance to God, Himself.

Durng the time of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar was such a person. He was totally enamored with his status as king of mighty Babylon and all of his accomplishments. In reality, he was his own god. In chapter 4 of Daniel, God brought tremendous humiliation on Nebuchadnezzar. You should read it. Because of this humiliation, Nebuchadnezzar realized his lowly status before God and bowed the knee to the God of Daniel. Honesty in an encounter with God tends to do that kind of thing to a person.

In the time of Moses, Pharaoh was such a man as Nebuchadnezzar who took his pride to an even more abominable level. Have you wondered why God would “harden someone’s heart?” When Moses approached Pharaoh to let God’s people go, Pharaoh’s response in Exodus 5:2 was to rhetorically ask, “who is the Lord that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.”

But after several plagues Pharaoh began to understand, at least temporarily, “who is the Lord,” and would have let the Israelites go, at least temporarily, but in Exodus 9:12 “the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh” so that he would not cooperate. In modern parlance we might say that God was saying, “let’s do a deep dive into this pride of yours, Pharaoh.”

It seems that God would not be through with Pharaoh until his pride was utterly destroyed. Pharaoh would not be able to get out of his pride-caused situation by weaseling back and forth about letting the Israelites go. God intended for him to face the full consequences of his action with complete understanding of why he was receiving those consequences. So God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to keep him “in the game” until it was truly over. He didn’t get to quit, take his toys, and go home. Yul Brynner may have been able to ride his chariot back to his forlorn palace in “The Ten Commandments,” but Pharaoh didn’t return from the Red Sea according to Exodus 14:28.

Pride is a lie we tell to ourselves about ourselves and it leads us into corruption, arrogance and evil. Pride is a lie we tell to ourselves about others and it causes us to denigrate and mistreat them while we spread falsehoods about them. Pride is a lie we tell to ourselves about God and it leads us to ignore, disrespect and supplant Him in our lives. In fact, I would surmise that almost every sin that people commit (to include their omission of good things that need to be done) has an element of pride in it somewhere.

What if you steal things that belong to another? You clearly believe somewhere in your muddled heart that you deserve his or her possessions more than he or she does. When you refuse to give a needy person a helping hand there is that same dynamic at work. You are too special to sacrifice and give what you would hardly miss to someone else. Let others do that. What if you lie to your neighbor? You can base your life on the correct information, but you don’t care if believing something that isn’t true causes a world of hurt for your neighbor. That is not your problem.

What if Christ, through the New Testament, has prescribed the manner He wishes to use to bring new members into His church (and He has)? You use a different method simply because you prefer this different method of adding to Christ’s church. You’re pride is in control. What if Christ has demonstrated the way in which he wishes to be praised and worshipped by His church on this earth (and He has)? There is a way that excites you more and that is how you intend to worship. Your pride is in control. What if Christ has delineated the organization of His church on the earth and specified the requirements He has for those who should lead it (and He has)? You like a different structure and want a more inclusive leadership, so you organize it more to your own taste. Your pride is in control.

There are no doubt many other areas or situations which could be listed in which God’s desires for his people are at position A, but we choose to locate ourselves in position B, and it is difficult to show definitively how it is pride that causes us to go outside of God’s laws. Yet I’m certain that if we were to renounce our pride and bow before the throne of the great God of the universe with proper humility, only those positions sanctioned by God would have any appeal to us. When our pride is gone, His will is all that is left.

The points made in the next two paragraphs are discussed from a slightly different perspective in the Trying to Walk article, “Being Subordinate.” I invite you to read it. One time in my life (with help) I designed and built a family house. Frank Lloyd Wright is famous for designing and building scores of houses, famous houses, large houses. Imagine us on a joint project and the pride involved in me saying, “Sit down there, Frank, and let me show you what we are going to do on this project. No, now keep quiet. Don’t interrupt.” What do you think he could learn from me (about designing/building houses)? Who needs to listen to whom?

I love basketball. I’ve spent untold hours of my life playing basketball. For those of you who don’t know, I’m 5’7” (almost.) I even coached middle school basketball for 4 years in a far away time. I’m not going to explain who Larry Bird is, because if I have to do that for you, this example is already lost on you. (Yes, I chose Larry Bird over Michael Jordan. That was to spite a man named Joel. Now let’s get serious again.) Imagine Larry Bird and I jointly coaching a team and the pride involved in me sitting Larry on the bench (so I can look him in the eye) and saying, “Sit down, Larry, and let me tell you all about how this basketball thing works.” What do you think he could learn from me (about basketball)? Who needs to listen to whom?

I’m interested in Christianity. I want to be a Christian who is pleasing to God. Jesus Christ, the son of God, purchased a church, His church, the church composed of “Christians”, with His blood by dying on the cross. Let’s get right to the point. Who needs to listen to whom?