When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 (NIV)
If you were with us last month, you´ll remember that we proposed celebrating Humility Month instead of Pride Month for June. This is because God opposes pride and blesses humility. Simple as that.
I felt like there was more to say about this topic though. Since we have a whole month, let´s go deeper.
How does pride lead to disgrace?
Pride is something we all have to deal with at one time or another. And most of us also have to contend with the negative natural consequences of pride.
For one frivolous example, I really like spicy food. One day, I made the mistake of labeling myself a ‟world-class chilehead” in the presence of a nephew-by-marriage who grew things in his garden of which I had never even heard. So he said:
So I did. With about a half pound each of cheese and sour cream, along with many glasses of milk. About half a bowl in, my body was rejecting it all. I felt like my mouth was literally a flamethrower, while I curled up on the bathroom floor praying for death to come swiftly.
Losing face in an eating contest is humbling, but not really disgraceful. Losing a job is another matter entirely.
Long story short, I was a know-it-all punk when I graduated from college. I was all too eager to point out when somebody did something wrong or said something stupid. The day came when my office had had enough of me, and I had to go home to my wife and explain that I was unemployed.
Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good, and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. Proverbs 16:18-20 (KJ21)
Believing your own hype only sets you up for disaster. There´s nothing wrong with striving for excellence or trying to live to your full potential. It´s how you go about it that matters.
Doing good is better than being great. Doing good glorifies God while trying to be great glorifies yourself. There will come a point where someone will call baloney on your self-proclaimed greatness, and then where will you be?
At our church, the leadership has a motto that our goal is not to be right but to relate rightly. Being right is better than being wrong, of course, but kindness sits better with most people than a smart-alecky attitude.
They will hide in caves in the rocky hills or dig holes in the ground to try to escape from the Lord’s anger and to hide from his power and glory! A day is coming when human pride will be ended and human arrogance destroyed. Then the Lord alone will be exalted. On that day, the Lord Almighty will humble everyone who is powerful, everyone who is proud and conceited. Isaiah 2:10-12 (GNT)
So what is the point of pursuing a life of self-publicity when this is how it´s going to end?
Pride is idolatry, and our God is a jealous God. Worshipping our own perceived awesomeness instead of His actual glory is the ultimate in arrogance.
How does humility lead to wisdom?
Humility is the state of being teachable because you know you are an empty glass that needs filling. Pride does not feel that it needs any further teaching, and therefore, gathers no wisdom. King Solomon had much to say on this topic, including the following:
To have knowledge, you must first have reverence for the Lord. Stupid people have no respect for wisdom and refuse to learn. Proverbs 1:7 (GNT)
Humility keeps you in a proper posture before the Lord. You know that you don´t know what you don´t know, and that He does. God is the source of all wisdom, so if you want some, you need to be open to what He has to say.
By deliberately placing yourself under God´s authority, He lifts you up by leading you down paths that all end up somewhere good.
Wisdom and Truth go hand in hand because God is the source of both. Since pride is antithetical to wisdom, it also rejects Truth. Indeed, I have been saying that from the very beginning.
This is why people consumed by pride reject wisdom and Truth. For those who are in the habit of following their own understanding, any notion that contradicts their worldview is offensive. Paul illustrated it this way:
For the message about Christ’s death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God’s power. The scripture says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and set aside the understanding of the scholars.”So then, where does that leave the wise? or the scholars? or the skillful debaters of this world? God has shown that this world’s wisdom is foolishness!
For God in his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of their own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called “foolish” message we preach, God decided to save those who believe.Jews want miracles for proof, and Greeks look for wisdom. As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles; but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God.1 Corinthians 1:18-24 (GNT)
A lot going on in the passage, but the crux of it is that Wisdom and Truth are the very power of God, and that this power is contained in the person of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh.
Therefore Jesus, the very power of God incarnate, in humility set that power and glory aside to become one of us. He came to show us the path of humility, so that we could conquer our pride in order that God could lift us up at the last day, even as Jesus was lifted up.
Every single person on this planet has the potential to be glorified in this way. Our common ground is that we are all created in the image of the same God. Yet so many, out of ignorance, reject this Truth and all the promises it contains.
Do you see now how pride leads to disgrace? Not only does pride reject the invitation to the party, if refuses to acknowledge that there even is a party to be invited to.
So Pride has street festivals and parades one month out of the year. But they all end. Living in God´s presence for eternity is a party that never ends. But pride won´t get you in the door.
(Sometimes, God doesn´t wait for us to humble ourselves. Come back next time to learn about ways he humbles us for our own benefit. Click on the Free Newsletter link to keep up with the conversation!)
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