The pride of life

I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I have a lot to say this week and my hope is that you’ll be able to break it down into bite-sized chunks in order that you will understand the thread of thinking throughout the post.

I also apologize that this blog is not more christmas-like... but with the over abundance of christmas messages, readings, carols, etc... I would like to think that it will not be sorely missed in this blog.

So....

The past 2 posts on his blog, in my opinion, represent 2 of three foundation stones for my structure of thinking about worship and approaching each gathering of Christians that I lead in worship.

The first foundational principle about offering oneself as a living sacrifice is the completion of the principle of a “Sacrifice of praise”. The second foundation of a non-conformist attitude and a transformation of the mind moves us closer to being in step with the kind of leader that God chooses to use in ways that nobody could have imagined before.

Most people, however (I am one of them), find the third foundational principle the most difficult to deal with and this is the principle of humility.

Following below are some thoughts I wrote down about “ the pride of life” some 2 years back and how we can overcome it through Humility.

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Think about life and humanity as we know it. If you are brutally honest with yourself and with those around you, you’ll agree with me in acknowledging that the easiest way to expose “the pride of life”; or the “ostentation of living” – ostentation is a big word to mean pretension, display, showiness or flamboyance – is to bring one’s reputation under scrutiny. Their reaction is VERY telling. Many of us have staked our reputation on temporal things in our lives or around us. For some of us, it is our intellect, while for others it is our numerous life skills. For others, it is our sports ability, while for others it may be our musical and artsy ability. Whatever it is, we have things for which we have been recognized publicly and we subconsciously and subtly start to place undue importance in these things. When these things are challenged we react negatively and it is a telling sign of the pride of life.

Many of the things that we have placed undue importance in and therefore allow pride to grow… many of these things do not need us to defend them. If really you have super sporting ability, the talent speaks for itself and does not need defense or flaunting. You do not need to walk around saying, “I’m the man!”

If you truly are an intellectual, your intellect will cause ripples among those with whom you interact on intellectual matters… it des not need your defense. If you are a truly gifted musician or artist, your music will become timeless and your gift will make such huge waves that you do not have to flaunt it. However, the temptation of pride is so subtle that it lures us into the trap of placing such high and yet undue importance in such things, only to be revealed when those things we have staked our reputation and self worth on are challenged.

You see, from the time you’re a child, there are numerous moments where you receive appreciation, affirmation and acknowledgement for things that you do; for who you are, or even for gifts, talents or special abilities that you have. There’s no problem with the praise that you receive because of these things, however, hardly anybody tells us that just because we have received praise for these things, it is not a license to place intrinsic importance in these things. We live in a society in which everybody flaunts their abilities, and so it is not any wonder that we find ourselves going along with the flow and being lured into the same kind of behavior: making a public show of who we are, and bringing unnecessary attention to our abilities, defending our gifts which should defend themselves, and defending the talent and position that should speak for itself. No matter who you are, you constantly face the tendency to be this way, and this is one of the ways that pride shows its face in our lives.

And then there are those of us that fall into the trap of being proud that we are so humble. And lots of energy and time is spent in creating opportunities for the display of our humility. Or we spend time wishing that the brash and obnoxious person we are in contact with could be as humble as we are… we are the perfect example of humility, modesty and meekness, and they really should learn from our example and be more like us!

However, there is an even uglier side of pride that I only discovered in my life recently. It’s the tendency to be overly self-effacing so that more and more praise is heaped; huge amounts of affirmation are dispensed. Because in being overtly brash, the amount of praise given would not satisfy the huge pit that my giant ego created. Somewhere in my mind, I had come to the primal understanding that I could get more praise and recognition about certain gifts by putting on a show of being humble or pretending to attach little value to a thing that was in fact so precious to me and a source of deep vanity and pride.

Something that I have increasingly come to understand is this: The sin of the pride of life takes root when we start to hinge our identity on temporal things – things that require us to call attention to them and is thus revealed in us when somebody challenges these temporary things.

On the surface, it seems inexplicable why we should somehow try to defend these temporal gifts, abilities, and positions. However, I believe that deep inside every single person, there is a basic understanding – a God-given understanding – that these things that lure us into pride are temporal. They are temporal because there will come a day when your gift cannot be used; there will come a day when you shall be removed from your position; there will come a day when your special abilities will fade. That is why it unconsciously becomes so important to us to flaunt it, and to defend it when challenged and even in the absence of challenge because it won’t be there one day.

Pride can only be overcome by humility

Humility is sometimes erroneously understood as putting oneself down; or as refusing to accept due praise and recognition. It has erroneously been made to seem – by some – that in order to be humble, you do not use your gifts and abilities with excellence for fear of bringing unnecessary attention to them. It has also been misconstrued by others to imply bringing as little attention to oneself as possible.

In the culture in which I grew, humble people did not look at elderly and respectable people in the eye it is considered brash and confrontational. Perhaps your version of humility requires you to dress as cheaply as possible or even to deny yourself any sort of comfort.

Does your version of humility require you to be overly self-effacing? Maybe it goes deeper than just a visual display… maybe your version of humility requires you to inwardly count all your abilities, gifts and position as worthless and therefore causes you to refrain from using them.

I believe that humility is so much more than just these things. Humility begins with identity realignment. The things in which you have placed personal importance – the things that you have hinged your identity and reputation on - are the things that have the ability to lure you into pride, or show you the path to humility.

I believe that for us, humility starts by becoming Christ-like and as I mentioned last week, by a renewing of the mind. By coming in contact with the person that walked this earth and perfectly embodied humility both in his heart and in his actions – this person is Jesus Christ. Outside of him, any other kind of humility is a façade.

Your identity in Christ is something that is received through faith, and is the only permanent thing on which you can hinge your whole identity. I am coming to understand more fully the importance of having an identity and a reputation that is firmly built on something that’s not temporary. If you understand that who you are and what you are able to do is because you are first and foremost a child of the most high God and he has called you his son or daughter, everything else in life gets realigned around this concept because you realize that it’s all worthless… everything else is temporary! You are able to see your gifts, talents and position with the perspective that God created them and gave them to you. And because they are powerless to lure you into pride, you are able to use them as God initially intended and in the process, instead of bringing all the attention to you, you are able to bring praise and honor to him through their use.

Your worth as a Child of God is tremendous – the price he paid to get you back shows it – and you do not need to defend it, and neither does God. Your worth comes from him and is completed by your faith in him. And so everything that you formerly used to bring definition and worth to who you are instead becomes a tool and an avenue to bring him glory.

Does that mean that there is no more recognition for the things you have done? No there isn’t, but it’s no longer important whether there is or there isn’t. You no longer need to call attention to your exploits.

So… what now?

Because we are a fallen people, each one of us is prone to succumbing to the sin of the pride of life – one of the most deceitful and hidden sins common to mankind. An even bigger problem with pride is that while all are prone to it, a significantly large percentage of us are not even willing to admit that we have allowed this cancer to consume us so much.

Unfortunately, for those of us for whom it is a struggle, the longer it takes to admit that we are being destroyed by this cancer, the bigger it grows within us and starts to choke the life out of us and those around us. Before you know it, the church leadership has to contend with unpleasant congregational members that are quick to see the wrong in everything in the church and yet are too proud to be open to correction or meaningful dialogue. Suddenly families are being ripped apart because the members in the family are too proud to sit down and have meaningful and level-headed discussion. Suddenly we find ourselves in a cut-throat world where it is the norm to have everybody living a life of selfish ambition, exploitation and greed because pride does not let them see the needs of those around them.

Do you know what’s absurd in all this? Almost every last one of the people caught in this web really and truly does not think that they are proud. This is the ultimate deceptiveness of the pride of life – its ability to remain concealed and fool the one it has trapped. It is regrettable, but it is the truth.

Only Jesus has the ability to cut through the lies and expose us for who we truly are. Only Jesus has the power to peel back the layers and help us see the damage that the cancer of the pride of life has caused in our lives and those around us. But he’s a gentle and caring doctor because the bible says that he understands, and is sympathetic to our situation because he was tempted in every way… even in the area of the pride of life.

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Matthew 4: 1 – 11
Philippians 2: 1 – 11
Romans 12: 3

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I believe that with every new level we achieve in our excellence in execution and presentation and seeing God’s hand of blessing, we experience a new and even more challenging test in the area of pride. I have seen the root of pride drive a wedge between people that were inseparable. I have also seen it completely destroy the foundation of ministries that seemed rock solid in the past. We need to make sure that we are constantly on our guard against the enemy’s subtle schemes to wreck our ministry together.

I got your back in this… do you have mine?