The Cost of Pride

The dictionary defines pride as a feeling of pleasure from one's own achievements. In other words it is, in your eyes, the feeling of pleasure you get from having achieved something based on your own power, knowledge and abilities.

This feeling of pleasure flowing from pride has a flip side as well, which is the feeling of disappointment when the outcome is not what you wanted. When you are driven by pride, this feeling of disappointment most often accompany behavior like anger, denial, conflict, lies, justification and excuses. This often happends in an attempt to find someone else to blame cause this makes you feel better and strokes your sense of pride.

This sense of pride is always tied to things, be it physical things like a big house, a smart car or label clothing. It might also be tied to accomplishments like winning a sports game, closing a business deal or getting the beautiful girl to love you.

The problem then, or reality of life, is that in order for you to be happy you constantly need to assemble or get hold of new things. Why? Because physical things always change and never are a constant, therefore your joy and happiness can't be a constant either and will always change.

Pride is a sense of 'being' that grows with these things in your life. The more things you have the greater the invitation for your pride to grow and the more opportunities you have to experience a sense of loss or disappointment. The end result is you growing more and more distant from the true you as the you are more and more tied to these things you assemble.

1 John 2:15-17 states, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the things of this world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the things of this world. And the things of this world passes away, and the lust thereof..."

The opposite of pride is humility. Humility is not being weak!

We have this incorrect idea of humility being a state where you always back down, turn the other cheek and play second fiddle. Humility is simply the choice and ability to stand on the word of God, to trust the Father.

When you achieve something great in life because God gave you the ability and the mission then your celebration is not pride in your own ability but rather the celebration of your faith in a trustworthy Father.

When on that journey something does not match the outcome you wanted, then you know it is not the end yet but a necessary step on your way to victory, because the Father wants the best for you! This view allows you to grow as a person and to not get beaten by life.

So change your perspective on life, reach out to a living and loving Father!

You are worth it!