Pride

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Phil. 2:1-9)

     This is a convicting passage for me, not only because I am often a very proud person, but also because it says that Jesus Christ was humble. The fact that my perfect Savior made nothing of Himself while I work so hard to make much of myself is very convicting for me. I suppose that it is possible that not everyone struggles with the same degree of pride, yet I do believe that on one level or another, everyone falls to pride occasionally. So in this article I want to take a look at the problem of pride, the appearance of pride, the presence of pride, and finally how to pummel pride. Even if you're not struggling with pride right now, perhaps this essay will be helpful for you if you ever do.

     In order to overcome pride, it is necessary first to understand that it is a problem. There are many Bible passages that declare the wickedness of pride, but perhaps none more clearly than Proverbs 21:4: “Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.” That's pretty straightforward, isn't it? A proud heart is a sinful heart. It doesn't get much plainer, and we need to take it seriously. Pride is sin, and that is that. No loopholes.

     We also need to understand that pride is natural: “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members” (Rom. 7:22-23). For the redeemed, we honestly strive to live for God. But the law of our flesh is still steeped in sin, and it is continually at war against us. We still struggle with sin, and in the flesh, sin is still natural. Therefore, in the flesh, pride is natural. It is not difficult to be proud—it is difficult to be humble. Pride is a problem, and it needs to be overcome.

     In order to overcome pride however, we need to recognize not only that it is a problem but also what it is. What is pride, and how does it look? The Bible gives us many good examples, but one particularly clear one is found in Daniel 4.

     It was about 580 b.c., in the ancient city of Babylon. The king of this great city, Nebuchadnezzar, was walking on the roof of the royal palace, and beholding the beauty of Babylon, he said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30). He was claiming the glory for the magnificence of Babylon. What is so sad is that only a few verses back, he had been told in a dream that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will” (Daniel 4:17). He should have known that Babylon was not his own creation, but rather a gift from God. But instead, He exalted himself over God, and took for himself the glory that was due to God. That is the appearance of pride. That is what pride always strives to do, for it is exalting self above God. It is trying to steal the praise that is due to God for oneself.

     Now that we have a better understanding of what pride looks like, we need to examine ourselves and see if there is any pride in us. As was just seen, pride is self-exaltation. The obvious way to identify the presence of pride in our lives, then, is to ask ourselves: “Am I exalting myself above God in any way?” We should ask this question and then watch ourselves very closely. Our lives will answer the question if we are watching. When we talk to people, do we speak as though we were something great on our own? When we think about ourselves, do we imagine ourselves as righteous apart from Christ? Is there any way in any area of our lives that we are exalting ourselves above Jesus Christ? Do we look at what we've done and say, “Wow! I am really good at doing these things.” If we ever do that, we can know that we have some measure of pride.

     Evaluating ourselves for self-exaltation is how to identify whether or not there is pride in us, but there is one other thing that is helpful to know when trying to identify the presence of pride: what causes it. What are the things that cause us to become prideful? I suppose the answer to this question may be different for different people, but for myself I know of three: success, forgetting my dependence, and forgetting my total depravity.

     Success is perhaps what causes self-exaltation in me the most frequently. When things are going well, spiritually, physically, academically, or otherwise, I have a tendency to take pride in my success. I look at what I've done, forgetting that my accomplishments were only by the grace of God, and I exalt myself. I forget that the things I do are only by the power of Christ in me, and so I exalt myself above Christ. I begin to think that I did something apart from grace, and I take glory for myself that belongs only to God.

     Another thing that causes pride in me is forgetting my utter dependence on God. I often begin to think that I can do without God, that I don't need His strength. I turn to trust in my own strength, exalting my strength above God's. This also is pride.

     The third way that I often exalt myself above Christ is by forgetting my total depravity. I look at my life, usually looking only at my righteousness, and I think I am doing pretty good: “Maybe I'm not as sinful as the Bible says I am. After all, I'm not as bad as Hitler or somebody.” That's a dead lie, and it exalts my righteousness above Christ's. It is only on the basis of Christ's works that I can be righteous. Apart from Him, I am “dead in the trespasses and sins in which [I] once walked” (Eph. 2:1-2), and to say otherwise is to say that I do not need Christ. It is to exalt myself above my Savior.

     Those are the three ways that I most often exalt myself above God and become proud. As was said earlier, the answer to the question, “What causes you to exalt yourself above God?” may be different for each person. However, answering this question will show us the things that cause pride in our lives, which is a very helpful step in identifying the presence of pride.

     What if our self-evaluation reveals pride in our lives? The first step after identifying pride in your life is to face it and confess it. This is often painful, for I can assure you that it is impossible to make an honest confession without being humbled. The very fact that you are getting on your knees to confess your shortcoming is killer to pride. Pride cannot bow to anyone, so when you confess your sin to God, you are defeating it: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). Once pride is confessed to God, the cleansing process begins, and pride begins to fall. Confession is the first step to pummeling pride.

     Once pride has been faced and confessed, there must be repentance. Repentance is a turn, and in this case it is a turning from pride and a turning to Christ. You turn away from exalting yourself and turn to exalting Christ. You look away from prideful self, and you look to the Christ who died for your sins. If you look at the cross and understand what took place there, it is very humbling indeed. So much for all of my righteousness! Christ had to die for me because all my “righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Is. 64:6). I could never be righteous enough to come into the presence of God, and so Christ died in my place in order that His righteousness could be counted to me.

     The Gospel is humbling, yet it also gives hope. By pride I sinned, but God has forgiven that sin through Christ, and that raises me up with hope. Because of what my Savior did on the cross, I have no more need to fear condemnation: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). A Gospel focus is the only answer to pride, and it is the answer we must give.

     Pride is a problem, yet there is a solution. Self-exaltation is a sin, yet there is forgiveness at the cross. If we identify pride in our lives, we need to confess it, turn from it, and look to the Gospel, for only there can we find both forgiveness and hope . How much the Gospel can do for those who will turn to it!

Work Cited

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Wheaton: Crossway, 2001. Print.