Being lifted up in pride can be a very damaging thing. Especially when you are blind to it. And, far too often we become so blinded that we miss all the warning signs around us.
We see it everywhere these days. Athletes, businesses and even churches. Athletes get caught up in living the highlife that they let pride tell them that they can get away with whatever they want because they can usually buy their way out. Businesses become prideful when they get way ahead of themselves thinking they are more than they really are. And, the same goes for churches.
How many times have you turned on the television and watched one of those televangelists talking about how good life can be if you just think positive thoughts. And they are doing it in lavish suits that cost $1500 or more.
Pride is destructive by nature.
“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man… It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone.” – C.S. Lewis
That’s the same theme we see with the athletes, businesses and churches we talked about earlier. Take away the ‘I’m better than you’ mentality, and pride almost always won’t have a leg to stand on.
Like we are reminded in Proverbs 16:18, ‘Pride goeth before destruction.’ If we allow pride to rule us, we are destined to be destroyed.
But, what is the opposite of pride? Very simply, humility. It’s our shield against being lifted up in pride.
“And they did impart of their substance, every man according to that which he had, to the poor, and the needy, and the sick, and the afflicted; and they did not wear costly apparel, yet they were neat and comely.” – Alma 1:27
Humility is a powerful and uplifting lifestyle. On the opposite side of the spectrum, pride is destructive.