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- Oct 26, 2007
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- 12,538
[When] pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly [is] wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 KJV
Pride, in the sense of putting yourself on a pedestal, is sometimes seen as the opposite of shame. If you are proud of something, you want people to see it. If you are ashamed of something, you want to hide it away. But pride is not shame’s opposite; it is its precursor.
Pride isn’t just the condition before a person’s fall; it is the condition of man’s original fall from grace. In their pride, Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, ignoring God’s command and listening to their own desires. This act shifted humanity’s gaze from God to themselves.
C. S. Lewis, in his masterpiece Mere Christianity, says, “In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
The solution to pride is a proper understanding of your position in the world. This is called humility. When you humble yourself in your own eyes, you are able to turn your eyes back to God.
Prayer: God, keep my eyes on You, not on me.
Pride, in the sense of putting yourself on a pedestal, is sometimes seen as the opposite of shame. If you are proud of something, you want people to see it. If you are ashamed of something, you want to hide it away. But pride is not shame’s opposite; it is its precursor.
Pride isn’t just the condition before a person’s fall; it is the condition of man’s original fall from grace. In their pride, Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, ignoring God’s command and listening to their own desires. This act shifted humanity’s gaze from God to themselves.
C. S. Lewis, in his masterpiece Mere Christianity, says, “In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
The solution to pride is a proper understanding of your position in the world. This is called humility. When you humble yourself in your own eyes, you are able to turn your eyes back to God.
Prayer: God, keep my eyes on You, not on me.
