A few weeks ago, my pastor spoke on the sin of pride. Yes, it's a sin. In reviewing my sermon notes he said 'pride is a condition of the heart' and 'sneaky pride touts itself as humility.' Pride is a pretty serious deal. As you can see, I'm not talking about the kind of pride where we take a shower, brush our teeth, and comb our hair. That's a different type of pride, and the world will thank us for taking care of those things before we leave the house.
But that other pride, well, its no good. "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18. Why is pride destructive? Because it keeps the one who is prideful from meeting their full potential and from obtaining favor. Who wants to help a prideful person, I don't. It's too difficult. Compliment a prideful person and they can't manage a 'thank you'. They have to compliment you back, or seem almost offended. Offer to buy a prideful friend lunch or dinner, and they turn you down but in the future offer to buy you lunch or dinner.
I like to call prideful people pretenders. They can be going down for the last count financially, but pretend to the world that all is well. The only problem is the only person they are fooling is themselves. Prideful people think they are being given a handout or that they are being pitied. Nothing can be further from the truth. The truth is if you are a friend we just want to give. If you are a stranger, we just want to give. There are people on this planet who give without ulterior motives.
Another trait I have found in prideful people is that they are strong willed people. There is nothing wrong with being strong willed, you need it to make it in this world; to make it through the pot holes, speed bumps, and road blocks of life. Leave the strong willed bit for making it through life, not for making it through life with people who care. The bottom line is, say thanks for the cup of coffee or lunch and save the pride for your appearance.
