Give Up Pride

 

Continuing our Lenten Series on areas of our lives where we may want to consider “giving up,” we come upon the topic of pride.  Pride is a slippery slope.  Certainly, it is nice to feel proud about the achievements we may have.  Yet, when those achievements are boasted solely as our own with no reflection on who gave us the gift to achieve, we put ourselves in front of God.   That is where the slippery slope begins.

God created each and every one of us for a purpose.  He put us on earth knowing what we could achieve, knowing who we were going to impact.  Finding our purpose and utilizing it in His name is something many Christians strive for – self included!  When we are able to work towards these achievements, people may take notice and share that goodness with us.  That is great!  It is nice to have your work recognized.  I believe God wants us to have that feeling of accomplishment and joy.  Stepping into the feeling of accomplishment can be rewarding – not just for the moment, but often it spurs us to want to move forward and do more.

Then what is the big deal?  It is when we take those moments and reflect solely on our OWN abilities and our OWN achievements without taking time to thank God for His role in the achievements.  It is when we put God in the rear-view mirror and shine the mirror back on us.  Filling our hearts with thoughts of, “Look what I did” or “I paved that way” or “I made that impact” and stopping our thoughts there, at that moment, can be damaging.  Those thoughts are fine, as long as they are followed with, “Thank you God for paving that way, giving me the ability and words to help to influence goodness.” 

Pride in oneself and one’s achievements, without taking the time to thank the one who provided you the gifts to achieve is like a small snowball at the top of a snowy mountain.  As the ball rolls down the mountain, it gets larger and larger.  The same is true of pride.  As the achievements rack up like the snowball at the top of the mountain, pride gets bigger and bigger and turns to a larger-than-life ego – with a lack of humility.  That takes us to our verse for today.  When Jesus shared those words above, He knew what could come with a pride-filled life, a life that focuses only on oneself.  Jesus humbled himself to come to this earth to show us how to live.  He was humble when He washed the disciples’ feet.  He was humble when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  He was humble as He entered this world in a manger.  The greatest gift of humbleness was when Jesus was tortured and crucified on the cross for our sins.

Jesus’ example of humbleness being exalted versus living a pride-filled life is one we should strive for.  Good things happen and we should feel good about them!  Our immediate thought after those times should be a prayer to our Heavenly Father, giving thanks for the gifts He gave us for that achievement.  May all Glory be to our God, humble servant!

Jesus, we thank you for the gift of giving us your humble life.  May your life be an example for us to give up a life where we focus and reward OURSELVES for our earthly achievements and may we quickly turn to YOU for thanksgiving of our earthly gifts we can share with others.  Amen