Let your love be my companion

In the war against my pride

Long to break all vain obsession

Till you're all that I desire

At the beginning of this song, he speaks about the the fight to humble ourselves and not think too highly about ourselves. This got me thinking about how over the years I've always stressed about what others might think of me. I'm a little better now that I'm older, but I still struggle with it at times. But you know, even that is thinking more highly of myself than I ought. It's not like people sit around thinking about me all the time. Pride can can come in a vast array of packages and sometimes we may not recognize it as pride at first. So what exactly is pride? There are a variety of definitions for the word, so I'm going to focus on a few: 

arrogance

haughtiness

presumption

exaltation

elevation

feeling you are more important or better than other people

inordinate self esteem: conceit

self regard

Pride likes us to exalt ourselves and to make us think we are better than others; that our wants, needs, and desires are more important than theirs. This is truly in opposition to what God's Word teaches us. In Philippians 2:3-4 it says:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

Wow...looking to the interests of others before we look out for ourselves? But what about that "looking out for number one" statement we always hear? Well, apparently that's not how God sees things. Does that mean we aren't to take care of ourselves at all? No, it doesn't mean that. We're going to work, to pay our bills, etc. But in doing those things we can't forget that others have needs as well. Think about the widow of Zarephath and her son, 1 Kings 17:10-13 says this:

"So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, 'Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.' As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, 'Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.' But she said, 'As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.' Elijah said to her, 'Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.' She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah."

Now, she could have said she didn't have enough to share. But she didn't do that. She had been given a word and she shared what she had with Elijah even in her fear. But God has a way of blessing us when we bless others, when we think of their needs, and especially if He specifically gave us a word to do something. Still, this took a step of faith.  And she had to lay down her pride. Okay, you're wondering how this relates to pride? Typically, that looking out for number one, that placing self above others would have kicked in and demanded you keep it all for yourself or you'd die. So right there, it shows me that before we can act in faith, we have to lay down pride. 

Now let's take a look at Romans 12:1-3:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."

Okay, all my Christian life, I've heard people talk about those first two verses in Romans. And many times people are so consumed with the fact that we are to offer ourselves as sacrifices to God because that's a form of worship that they forget the other part that follows. In our submission to God, in our transforming of our mind (or the Word transforming it for us), we will come to realize that we are not all that. And in the verses that follow this (that I haven't posted) it talks about us being one body, and how everyone of us plays a part. This got me thinking about how men tend to exalt one calling over another. A pastor isn't any better than the person whose cleaning the toilets for the church. His position is an act of service to Christ and to the body just like the janitor's is. Jesus himself said that whoever wanted to be first would be last. Humility and considering others before ourselves is highly pleasing to God. But let me say this, never put another person on a pedestal. I admire pastors and worship leaders and such, but I can't think that they are perfect and that they will never mess up. I can't think that they have all the answers. That would be exalting them to the position that only God should hold. 

So what about presumption? How does that play into this whole pride thing? When I hear the word I immediately think of someone being presumed innocent until proven guilty. You know, the legal usage of the word. But how many times have we presumed something about the word that wasn't actually true? I've had people vehemently preach scripture to me, almost demanding that their interpretation was truth and basically refusing to listen to instruction or another interpretation from anyone else. It was like their mind was set that they couldn't possibly be wrong. That's pretty dangerous ground. When you think that you are beyond the need for instruction or correction, you're presuming you have all the answers and that no one knows more than you. It kind of borders with arrogance. 

It is my thinking that pride is the opposite of humility. Pride exalts. Humility brings low. Jesus was the prefect example of humility. Philippians 2:5-8 tells us:

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!"

Whew! There is so much more to be said about pride versus humility. And so many of the lyrics to this song that I didn't touch on. For now, I'm going to stop.