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.”