Overcoming Pride

Overcoming Pride
Facing the Enemy From Within
Marvin R. Knight

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.”
Proverbs 16:18
(Cf. Prov.11:2, 17:19, 18:12, 29:23)

In the quiet bowers of Eden, before the forbidden tree yielded its fateful fruit, or the tempter touched the world, a terrible sin invaded the universe. It was the sin of pride. Pride is the sin that turned angels into devils and transformed the anointed Cherubim, called Lucifer, into Satan himself (Cf. Is.14:12-16; Ezek.28). Pride is the principle cause of the fall of man into alienation from God. How sinful pride is!

In the verse above, we find two main thoughts: the evil of pride and the excellence of humility.

The Evil of Pride

A Chinese proverb says, “He who flies not high fall not low.”¹ Pride always seeks to climb. Pride sought flight in heaven but fell to hell. What is pride? Pride has three offspring that always accompany her: self-assertion, self-confidence, and self-exaltation. There are seven reasons why pride is so evil.

1. It is based on falsehood. 1 Corinthians 4:7 asks, “For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive?” What do the richest, the strongest, the most beautiful, or the most gifted people have that they did not receive? Ultimately, we owe everything to God. “For in Him we live and move and exist…” (Acts 17:28). The thought that anything we have comes from something in us is absolutely false.
2. It is ungrateful and claims too high a place. Pride says, “Everything I see is due to me,” but forgets the benevolent hand of a good and gracious Creator. It is ambitious and seeks a position of respect. It claims honor and would rather starve than risk appearing weak.
3. It is ugly and offensive. Pride is not self-respect; it is self-exaltation. The very attitude of pride is to challenge attacks and seek to defend itself to appear faultless. It hides the image of God in the soul of man and seeks to erect its own monument to self.
4. God repeatedly and seriously condemns it as horrible sin. (Cf. Prov.8:13; Ps.12:3, 31:23; Is.2:12; James 4:6)
5. It produces a false confidence. Sometimes your pride is in your health, your business, your skills, your position, your education, or even your morals or righteousness. However, at the end of the day, it is a dangerous guide, which leads man to a fall. Galatians 6:3 says, “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
6. It refuses to receive correction. It stubbornly resists stooping to admit when there is error. It is so satisfied with its own condition that it will not listen to advice and, therefore, it leads to a fall.
7. It brings shame and disgrace. Before sin entered man’s nature, he was created to boast in unceasing praise of His Creator. However, when sin came, it did not annihilate this ability; it directed it to another object: himself. Self-love may be temporally sweet to the soul, but our fallenness will produce shame that we have allowed ourselves to act as though, or even think, we were something, when we are not (Dan.4:28-37).

The Excellence of Humility

Proverbs 16:19 says, “It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Why is it better?

* It is better because it reflects a true understanding of ourselves. It is true that a man can be proud of his humility, but real humility comes from a true knowledge of our own nature, our weakness, our propensity to selfishness, and our vulnerability to fail in the face of trial.

* It is better because it reflects the most precious trait of Christian virtue. Humility is the chief mark of an upright and godly life. It is the crown jewel of Christian character. It is the insignia of piety. Bernard of Clairvaux said, “When Majesty humbled himself, shall the worm swell with pride?”² In light of His condescension, any self-exaltation is a high crime against the King of Glory.

* It is better because it is the gateway to the kingdom of heaven. It is to the humble of heart, the person who is conscious of his sin and pollution, that God gives grace to seek the Savior. Humility is the repentance of pride.³ Humility is both a grace and a vessel to receive grace.⁴ The offspring of pride are self-assertion, self-confidence, and self-exaltation, but a citizen of the kingdom is marked by self-loathing and self-examination (2 Cor.13:5-8).

* It is better because it is our only safe ground. Every other foundation that a person seeks to build his life upon is unstable and unsecured. But humility is safe because it is rooted in reality. When life hits, a proud man leans upon his won resources -- which are limited at best. But the believer’s hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

The Way of Grace

No pride ever appears in the New Testament portrait of Christ. He is the meekest man who ever lived and the humble Servant of God who humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a scandalous cross! (Cf. Is.50:4-8; Phil.2:5ff)

Pride is one of the most common sins in the church, which proves how little we really know of the mind of Christ. The way of humility begins with the new birth. The new birth is the realignment of the soul to operate like it did before the fall. It is the implanting of new life so that we abhor praising self and delight to boast in God -- sincerely and whole-heartedly. How does it happen? It is not that we believe and are then born again. We are born again, and, therefore, we believe. It is a gift of God (Eph.2:8-9). It is the fruit of the Spirit’s action in your soul. Do you want to know this grace? Do you desire to shun pride and evil ways? Then “…humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Pet.5:6-7). “For GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE” (1 Pet.5:5b).