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[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]“There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians ever imagine that they are guilty themselves…. The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride…. it was through Pride that the devil became the devil (Isaiah 14:12-15); Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind… As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you” (C.S. Lewis, Into The Wardrobe).
I have been reflecting on the issue of pride recently in my own life and its contrary nature to Christ. Pride lifts us up in our own measures and therefore is not only narcissistic, but it removes Jesus from the picture. I see how often that pride seeps into my life and thoughts about self and others and it always, always excludes Christ, because ultimately, pride is humanity considering themselves better than others, which in the long run rids us of the belief that we desperately need a savior. The Psalmist David speaks of this in Psalm 10:4: “In his pride the wicked does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” So many times throughout my own life, I have wondered why God seems so far from me, or perhaps, it was I who was far from God because of my own pride that so easily consumed my thoughts. David understood that when a man is filled with pride, they are thinking so much about themselves, that there is no room for the thought of God.
The examples and consequences of pride in my own life are countless and it is something that even now as I write this article, I am struggling with. One such example was and is my own pride with my parents in thinking that I knew better, and that pride led me to miss out on a lot of wisdom, insight, and love from my parents during high school. I would constantly shut my parents out and let them have no part in hearing my heart or even telling them simple things, like what happened at school. That continued pride led me to make a lot of different poor decisions, all of which could have been prevented by humility. As scripture says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18) and did I ever fall. Now, I respect my parents and value their input and advice and regret the ways in which I allowed pride to seep in and take over my decisions.
There is a passage in Matthew that has been heavy on my heart recently in regards to pride: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:22-23). This passage is heavy and one that we should all take to heart. It is scary to think that apparently, there will be some who prophecy and perform miracles in the name of the Lord, but will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. After meditating more on the passage, I found the root of the people’s sin to be pride, evidenced by the fact that their response is, “did we not prophecy?”, did we not drive out demons? The focus of their salvation was what they had done, and wanted the Lord to recognize that. This is a trap I continually fall into and yet God’s word says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). In other words, there is nothing we can do by our own power or works to gain salvation. Thinking through this passage in Matthew has been a reality-check and reminds me that scripture says: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Because it is so easy to fall into the prideful trap of self-focus on what we have done, it is important to examine ourselves and make sure that pride is being killed and Christ is being made bigger and the focus of our pride (1 Corinthians 1:31).
Before Jesus speaks of the people who claim to have performed miracles in his name, he says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). I then asked the question, what is the will of the Father? The Lord led me to Micah 6:8, which says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? (i.e. “what is the will of the father?”) To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” It is God’s will for us that our relationship with Him be centered on humility, both in how we think of God and live our own lives. As serious as the passage in Matthew 7 is, we should not become preoccupied on it, that it leads us to question our own salvation, but rather, let it point us to Jesus, who was the ultimate example of humility so that we too can walk in the humbleness that Christ possessed and emulate Him. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8).
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