Friday, December 1, 2017

Pride of Life

I remember a famous preacher once asking his congregation to take a moment and think about the ten commandments.  He wanted each person to go down the list in their mind, and decide which of the ten they each struggled with the most.  He then added a curious twist to the last part of his sermon.  He told them that if anyone went down that list and came up with nothing, and in so doing they were to end up feeling pretty good about themselves as a result, then they were to jot down the word 'pride' in the margin of their Bibles.  Oh to see the look on peoples' faces that day!  The preacher made his point for sure, mainly that many among us may be struggling with something called pride of life.



Just what is this concept?  It comes from 1 John chapter 2, verses 15-16.  In this famous Biblical letter, the author says this, "Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world."   

Honestly, I believe that to be prideful is really a type of idolatry.  We are putting something or someone in a place above God, and then inserting a competitive drive toward that thing in order to be the best at it, have more of it than someone else, or simply to show it off.

I remember not long ago I was working closely with someone on a project.  We had spent time together in the past, so I knew that this was a very talented young lady, and she was good at her job.  At one point, I served up what I thought was a well placed  compliment designed to embolden her self confidence.  Unfortunately what actually happened is that it bypassed her humility center and went straight to her ego, never to be seen or heard from again.  There was no living with her the rest of the day.  Something happened the moment that compliment left my mouth and entered her consciousness.  Instead of producing humility and gratitude, it inflated her ego and engaged pride of life.

Now I must mention here that this isn't uncommon.  In today's world of social media and self-glorification, it is very easy to fall into pride.  In C.S. Lewis' seminal book 'Mere Christianity', he reminds us that pride in a job well done or being proud of one of your children isn't immoral.  In fact, this type of pride is very healthy.  But should a person go one step further, and state that they are proud of the job they did because it is better than the job someone else did ... now we have a problem.  Pride in itself is competitive by nature.  It isn't enough to have a new car; the car must be better than your neighbor's car.  And if it isn't, well then, time to head back to the dealership again for something newer.

To help make this point solid, let's visit the book of Daniel from the Bible.  Daniel, having worked his way up the ladder while serving king Nebuchadnezzar, was asked to come and interpret one of the king's dreams.  It was essentially a warning from God that should the king become too proud, his fall from grace would be swift and profound.  Dan 4:30-31 says, "[the king] said, 'Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?'  Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, 'This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you.'"   

Note how quickly the king lost his throne.  As soon as he articulated his arrogance verbally, it was all over for him - at least for a while.  Daniel had warned him, yet he still couldn't overcome his temptation to indulge in the idea that he himself had built all of this, not God.  It was a hard lesson to learn for an Old Testament king.  It is a hard lesson for you and I to learn today.  There are always consequences for being puffed up.

Author C.S. Lewis later refers to pride as the "anti-God state of being."  But why is this sin so detestable in particular?  I think the answer lies in the fact that if we are being honest, pride of life contains two particularly sticky criteria.  First, a proud person is often plagued by tunnel vision.  They have blinders on and cannot see their own predicament clearly.  Others around them can see it immediately, but they themselves cannot.  Second, being proud can also make us unteachable.  It provides us with the mistaken notion that we have the Midas Touch, and so nothing we do could possibly need improved upon.  This silly arrogance can even extend to the spiritual realm as well.  It often sounds like this: "look how much good I am doing for the church, God must really be pleased with how holy I am!"  It sounds like nonsense to say this out loud of course, and I have a feeling that those folks who think that way about themselves represent the calm before the storm.  As I said previously, there are consequences to being puffed up.

So what are these consequences?  Why can't we just cruise through life believing that everything we do is perfect, and no one can possibly eclipse our knowledge, intellect, or ability?  To answer this, we visit the book of Proverbs (chapter 16 verse 18): "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."  This statement is both eloquent and accurate.  In fact, I don't believe there are any exceptions to this rule.  When I ruminate about my own life, I can't think of a single situation where God allowed me special freedom from the natural consequences of thinking that I was better than someone else.  There was always a literal "come to Jesus moment" that resulted from me doing something prideful.  Just turn on the television set or pick up a newspaper.  It won't be long before you read about a leader falling from grace - and usually for good reason.     

But here is the good news.  Our God is a God of redemption and restoration.  If we look back at the book of Daniel again for a moment, we see that after a period of time the Father restored king Nebuchadnezzar back to his throne.  Permanent destruction was never the goal here.  On the contrary, once a period of humility had elapsed, Babylon benefited from a much more reserved and humble king.  Take a moment now and imagine if you can, a world full of nations with humble leaders.  How different the meetings at the United Nations would look, I think.  

The truth is that you and I can be restored as well.  If your neighbor suddenly pulls into his driveway with a larger, newer car than you have - there are two choices.  It is either back to the dealership for a better vehicle, or you may simply make peace with the car that you currently own.  Trust me, the only person that probably cares how new your car is, is you.  Hopefully you are driving it to church in order to worship the only being who really deserves that much attention anyway.



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