{Ouch}

Pride.

It’s such a tiny little word that describes a very large, very ugly struggle of mine.

People who know me in real life might be a little surprised to hear me say that. Because, you see, pride doesn’t show up in my life in what might seem to be the “typical” manner.

I’m not the “cocky, over confident, smug” type of person with that “look at me” kind of swagger.

I don’t talk myself up {rather, I’m more likely to talk myself down}

But guess what?

I’m proud.

Pride is sneaky. And it manifests itself in my life in a hundred different ways. Last week in our Sunday School class, we were given a handout with two columns: one detailed characteristics of a proud person, the other characteristics of a humble person. Guess which one I identified with?

Proud people…

…have to prove they are right…

**OUCH**

…keep others at arms’ length…

**OUCH**

…find it difficult to share their spiritual needs with others…

**OUCH**

…tend to deal in generalities when confessing sin…

…are self-conscious…

…have an independent, self-sufficient spirit…

**OUCH, OUCH, OUCH**

C.J. Mahaney, in his book “Humility: True Greatness”  says that pride is “to rob God of legitimate glory and to pursue self-glorification”

As our Sunday School teacher said, “Doesn’t that sound horrible?”

That’s because it is.

Pride is at the root of so many of the sins in my life. It is not something I can just look at and then passively go on with my daily life. It needs to be uprooted and tossed out, like weeds in a garden – so there can be room for real fruit to grow.

How do I do this?

It’s only possible when I have the right view of myself – the view from the foot of the cross. That’s where I see myself for what I truly am – a sinner desperately in need of a Savior – and where God is revealed for what He truly is – the only One who deserves any glory or praise, the perfectly just judge whose mercy and compassion reached down to rescue me.

“How can anyone be arrogant when he stands beside the cross?”
--Carl Henry--

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
   "God opposes the proud
      but gives grace to the humble."
--James 4:6--