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Christian Network

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)

It is far better to humble oneself than to wait for circumstances or other people to do that humbling for us. There are few verses in the Bible that are more often proved in daily life than this one from Proverbs. Whether the results are immediate or come years later, when we willfully entertain sinful pride in our hearts we will always fall. It is not in the nature of the universe for arrogance to lead to anything but destruction because God made the universe and God always resists arrogance in His created beings. There are no exceptions to this rule.

All of us have been prideful at one time or another. No fallen human since Adam has been completely humble in the way our creator would have him be. The meekest Christian that ever walked the Earth still manifested pride in some form. Pride is universal in unredeemed humanity and none of us escape its presence. Once we are convinced of this truth our responsibility is to reckon with and repent of pride whenever we become aware of it. But too often we do not. When we persist in pride Proverbs 16:18 becomes operative and either our circumstances or other people, or both, will eventually cause us to "fall." How great that fall will be is dependant on how deep our pride has been and how long we have entertained it.

Once we have recognized a "haughty spirit" within ourselves (often at the prompting of the Spirit) we have the opportunity to cut our losses through conscious repentance. Such repentance is often not easy. Pride can seem very right, very defensible. Oftentimes we think we have somehow "earned" the right to be conceited in some area of our lives through our good works or choices or perhaps because we have successfully endured something difficult. We try to justify a proud heart, with the old man within egging us on. But despite the temptation to rationalize in this area every believer has the ability, and the responsibility, to humble themselves in the sight of their Savior who Himself lived a life of humility on Earth. When we do so our Lord honors us, and often spares us from the damage to others and ourselves that pride engenders.

The alternative is to persist in self-glorification. When we do this one of two things happens. First we may find trials and tribulations soon come into our lives that our inordinate self-confidence not only cannot deliver us from but which it actually makes worse. We suddenly find that the pride, which recently felt so good, is now entrapping us in miseries that would not be so painful except for our arrogant attitude. The second result of an unrepentant attitude may be a humiliating dressing down at the hands of someone else. The other person or persons may be either believers or unbelievers who recognize our pride and who will not let us get away with it. If we are fortunate the person doing the talking will be someone who loves us and has our best interests in mind. Many times, however, the other person acts more as a scourge than a friend, not caring about anything other than "putting us in our place." Going through such a dressing down is a singularly unpleasant experience, made all the worse by the realization that it was avoidable had we done something about our pride on our own.

Both these results of an unrepentant heart are far worse than the pain that comes from humbling ourselves by our own choice. Often Christians have to experience several pride-engendered hardships of this nature before they realize the better option and start to avoid unnecessary pain by confessing and forsaking the pride they have allowed into their lives. It is a hard lesson to learn. It certainly has been for me.