Pride and Selfishness

An excerpt from my new book Pursuing Peace - Finding God's Peace in a Stressful Life.

 

 

“Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness

before a fall” (Prov. 16:18 NLT).

 

The word “pride” in this passage of scripture is the Hebrew

word “ga’own,” which means “exaltation, majesty, excellence.”

(Strong’s Lexicon reference H1347) And what of, say, “majesty”?

We read about this in Job as he tries to describe the majesty

of God.

 

My heart pounds as I think of this. It trembles within

me. Listen carefully to the thunder of God’s voice as it

rolls from His mouth. It rolls across the heavens, and

His lightning flashes in every direction. Then comes the

roaring of the thunder—the tremendous voice of His

majesty. He does not restrain it when He speaks. God’s

voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine

the greatness of his power. (Job 37:1–5 NLT)

 

These words that describe “pride” certainly don’t seem to

be terms I would dare describe of myself, especially because

they are used to describe the Creator of the universe in which

my small, dusty frame resides in. So it makes sense that, if I am

puffed up with pride, then I’m headed for trouble. God is holy

and majestic. And if anyone deserves the right to be proud, it

is Him.

 

I think pride breeds selfishness. When a person becomes

bigheaded about what he has, he almost assuredly will begin

to think that he should have more. I call this the “deadly duo.” I

don’t know anyone who likes to be around a selfish person. We

equate selfishness to children fighting over toys and married

couples quarrelling through a possible divorce. It’s a side of

people we just don’t like. Some people are just so proud of

themselves that they make us grind our teeth and squint our

eyes.

 

Pride is destructive. And selfishness brings on more pride.

But in the right order, pride can be a very powerful and positive

thing. My wife praises our kids’ achievements and makes sure they

know she is proud of them. And when she tells them to “show

Daddy,” the look in her eyes is easy to interpret. She seems to

express, “Be proud of them.”

 

 

Practice

God works in our lives. Don’t ever doubt it. And to those who listen closely to Him in spirit, they know He works miracles with everyday objects and situations. This was never more clearly portrayed to me than recently when I asked God to help me with my lack of patience. It could be debated whether I learned the art of impatience as a child, or simply developed this pitiful trait from my own inability to have what I want when I want it.  

I had just put the kids to bed and was trotting downstairs to finish a move that I had been watching; something on TCM from the 1930’s I believe. Little did I know that my recent attempts to work on my patience during that day were about to really go out with a bang. Right as I was about to plop on the couch I decided to run to the bathroom. Instead of going to the powder room (which was the closest one) I made my way to the master bath. I noticed the clean sheets on the bed that were not folded. So I folded them and stacked them neatly on the bed. Then there was my prayer blanket in a mess on the chair. I folded and laid them on the chair back. I thought to brush my teeth so I went to knock that out.

While in the bathroom I walked to the closet and grabbed my work clothes for the next day and went to turn down the bed. I noticed the sheets nicely folded so I went to put them up in the closet. I walked around the other side of the bed and noticed my water glass was empty so, after a short debate, I figured I would go fill it in the kitchen. To my pleasant surprise, the sink was full of dirty dishes. As I washed them off and moved to put them in the washer, I noticed that the grease catch to the griddle was on the counter; full of cold bacon grease. Sigh. After dealing with the catch I walked over to the cabinet to put it up and noticed the coffee maker had not been filled with water yet.

At this point, I tend to make this rational decision that I should leave SOMETHING for my wife “to do.” And seeing my movie still on pause on the TV, I decided to fill the coffee maker. In the end, these annoying things were completed and I sat on the couch about twenty minutes after I expected too. Did it kill me? No. But it did try my patience. And it is likely that my wife never knew any of it transpired. But that’s not the point anyway. At the end of this little test I was reminded that God uses things like this in ways to show He is there to help us work on our issues. And He also sees our performance. Don’t miss an opportunity to see Him at work. He won’t miss your efforts. And He will hold you accountable for how you act in these times.

 

“God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.” --- Ecclesiastes 12:14

A Foggy Sense of Clarity

“A thick cloud of water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the Earth's surface that obscures or restricts visibility.”  I walked outside the other morning and could barely see the backyard fence. The fog was so intense. Everything was wet in the yard thanks to this God created phantom of the morning. When the breeze is just right, and the fog is the right thickness, it rolls along in an interesting way. It will move into a tree and wrap around the branches as it goes. Not a single part of the branch is left unquenched by its wet grasp. It seeps through gaps in fence pickets and whirls around structures as it goes.

This morning’s commute was no exception. The limited visibility on the road was cumbersome. The fog kept me from seeing things around me as I struggled to stay on the road. “Show me something God,” was the customary thought of the morning. After a few minutes, I made it out to the main road and noticed His handiwork. The six-lane straightaway that I was now on was completely clear. All lanes were visible. But this thick fog held fast to both sides of the road as if it were a wall - blocking out everything beyond the road. Nothing was visible off the roadway. All I could see was the road that I was on.

Jesus certainly made the fog. He also used it in the Bible to speak to people. This morning’s lesson was simple for me. Sometimes He hides things from us; things that we might actually want to see. Other times He hides things that we may not even know are there; keeping them from distracting us from life’s road ahead. His plan for our lives is guided with perfection. His Word is the compass to life and it is powerful. It enwraps us as it gets down between the tightest parts of our lives and exposes our intensions.

When life seems to be hiding things from us, we should remember that the control emanates from the Word of God – the person of Christ Jesus. He is at work in our lives. He is in charge. And He reveals the way we should go. Stay close to Him with a quiet mind and a meek heart and your spirit will hear what His Spirit has to say. He will guide you along the way. And as you follow Him; your soul will be at peace – no matter what may be ahead!

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.” --- Hebrews 4:12-13 (NLT)

Also read Judges Chapter 6 (specifically vs. 33-40) for an Old Testament account of God’s morning fog (dew) in action in the life of Gideon.