"God opposes the proud but favors the humble."
(James 4:6)
Too often I have read this verse, and recognized that it teaches me the importance of being humble, but I have failed to really recognize what it is saying despite the fact that it states it very clearly. Not only is it telling me that God wants me to be humble, but He is opposed to me when I strive to draw attention to myself rather than to others, and to Him. This is a very serious fact. When the Creator of all things, and the One in control of all things, says that He is opposed to me when I am prideful, that is downright frightening. This goes to show just how serious He is about the subject.
Honestly, pride is something I've struggled with. I have no problem being the center of attention, and I tend to enjoy it. I'm not happy to say that, but I also can't deny it. The thing that makes me even more stupid is the fact that I have always felt better about myself whenever I have strived to be humble. Jesus said, "Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted". So not only have I been stupid because I have been prideful, but the attention that I seek actually comes when I don't pursue it. I am not saying this to say, "Just don't be prideful, and then you get the attention that you desire", because this also is not the proper attitude. If we are truly being humble, Jesus is clear that we will end up being exalted, but true humility does not desire the attention in the first place. True humility strives to draw attention to God and to others.
The other side of the coin is that no one likes one who is prideful. I believe that this could be one of the reasons why Jesus said what He did about the humble being exalted. Nobody wants to exalt someone who exalts themselves. They don't want to "feed" their ego any more. Quite frankly, prideful people are annoying, and nobody wants to be around them when they act those ways. It makes everyone annoyed and uncomfortable. Why would I ever want to behave in these ways? It's foolish and stupid. What I want is for people to see Jesus when they look at me. I want them to see all the amazing things that He's done in my life, and to see how He's been constantly working on me and changing me to make me more like Him. Pride is the exact opposite of what I want to display.
I also want to make sure that I am not falsely humble. I believe it is still pride when we attempt to appear humble before others, when all the while we are craving that attention. There is no fooling God, and He is the Judge, and I believe He is opposed in these situations too, for it is still pride.
In order to be humble, I need to actively work to draw attention to others, in positive lights, and away from myself. I need to make sure that I do more listening, rather than talking, and am focusing on the needs and desires of others rather than my own. I need to seek to serve others like Jesus did, not be served. I praise God for my wife Bryane, because next to Jesus, she is the best example I have ever seen of what it means to be humble. She never seeks attention for herself, and is always doing whatever she can to build others up, and to serve.
in calling prideful people annoying, foolish, stupid, and saying no one wants to be around them... by the very definition of the word ("having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworth"), aren't you being prideful?
ReplyDeletewith all that "i'm gonna die for all you sinners, but i won't really die because i'm magic and my dad's god" stuff, and the best-selling novel he starred in, wasn't jesus himself a bit of an attention-seeker?
and this is probably hard to say since blogs are a relatively recent invention and god hasn't updated his book in a couple millenia (must be super busy choosing who and who not to exalt), but what do you think god's position would be on blogs being written about him?
Thanks for the comments. I appreciate when people take the time to drop what they think.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I can see why you'd argue that Jesus Himself was prideful, but I believe very strongly that this shows a lack of understanding of His nature. If you examine the life of Jesus, He absolutely did draw attention to Himself, but He did it because drawing closer to Him and becoming more like Him leads to the best life possible. He draws us to Himself because it is what is best for us. So while it appears like pride, it's actually love. At the same time, while drawing people to Himself, He always did so in order to point them to the Father, once again proving His humility. And the fact that He left Heaven, where He was praised and worshiped, to come to Earth, where He was hated and killed, shows that His attention was always on us, and what is best for us. John 10:10 says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. As well, Philippians 2:8 states, “He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross”. While it may seem like He was prideful, He was actually the perfect example of humility that has ever lived, and ever will live. It was never about what was best for Him, but about what was best for others.
You're right, I do think that pride is foolish and annoying, but I don't think that pride makes someone stupid. If you look back at the post, I only refer to myself as stupid for the ways that I've tended to act. I was putting myself down, because I feel that I personally have been stupid. It would not be right for me to refer to anyone else in such ways, even if they acted the exact same ways as I have which led to me refer to myself as stupid. I can refer to myself as stupid, but not others.
Thanks again for the thoughts.