The Paradox Of Pride Series

Some people, probably most people, and maybe all people have to learn how to

be humble the hard way, and that is the humpty dumpty way of having a great

fall. This was the case with Max Eastman. A film was being made on the life

of Christ, and he happened to meet the well known woman photographer working

on that film, who was Alice Baughton. Shortly after this meeting he received

a note asking if he would consent to pose with Walter Hampden, the man

playing the role of Christ, in one of the miracle scenes. He was so proud of

getting such an offer after just a casual meeting, that he could not help but

brag. A thing like that couldn't just happen, he must have something on the

ball. He said to his mother who was visiting at the time, "See what it is to

be a beauty. I just knock them cold at the first sight." When he returned

from the studio, however, his glow had turned to gloom. "What did you pose

for?" Was the eager question of the family. Meekly he replied, "The corpse

of Lazarus."

Lazarus was certainly not unimportant role to play, even as a corpse,

but it hardly justified his boast of superior beauty. Had he not opened his

mouth, there could only be merit in getting any part at all, but he did, and

proved the saying true, "And ounce of vanity spoils a hundred weight of

merit." He thought too highly of himself. He was like the man whose wife

said to him as they left the party, "Has anyone ever told you how marvelous

you are?" "No, I don't believe they have," he said. "Well then," she

continued, "Where in the world did you ever get the idea?"

The idea comes natural, for the one thing most all people have in common

is their loyal love of themselves. E. W. Howe said, "When a man tried

himself, the verdict is usually in his favor." Subconsciously, if not

consciously, all men tend to make themselves the center of the universe.

Each of us is, to a lesser or greater degree, an I specialist. I read of a

printing company that had to postpone the publication of a Bishop's

autobiography because of they ran out of capital I's. Pope wrote in his

essay on man,

Ask for what end the heavenly bodies shine,

Earth for whose use, -Pride answers,-Tis for mine;

For me kind nature wakes her genial power,

Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flower;

Sees role to waft me, suns to light me rise;

My foot stool earth, my canopy the skies.

There is a touch of truth even in this self-centeredness, for man alone

was made by God with the capacity to appreciate and enjoy the order and

beauty of His creation, and man was given dominion over creation. But man

fell, like Satan, because of pride, and is now, as Pascal put it, both the

glory and the scum of the universe. He still has some basis for pride, but

so much more for humility and shame. Abraham Lincoln's favorite hymn by

William Knox put it this way,

Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?

Like a swift-flitting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,

A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,

He passeth from life to his rest in the grave.

Man is in a strange predicament, caught between his own dignity and

depravity; his own worth, and his wickedness. The result is another great

paradox of life. Man's self-love is both an evil and a good. It is both an

essential for a happy life in God's will, and the main cause for most evil

that is out of God's will. Paul in this great chapter on paradoxes deals

with both sides of pride.

In verse 3, he deals with that kind of pride which makes a man think

himself to be something when he is nothing. In verse 4, he deals with that

kind of pride which is an honest recognition of one's worth before God. The

border line between these two is so close, and so poorly defined, that one

can every easily slip over into exhibiting evil pride when he thinks he is

being rightfully humble. This makes pride a very dangerous area that Satan

takes advantage of. Ruskin said, "In general pride is at the bottom of all

great mistakes!" This is true of sin as well.

The Old Testament says so much about the evil and folly of pride we

cannot even begin to cover it. The New Testament is sufficient to establish

it as one of the worse evils of the human heart. Jesus lists it as one of

the major evils that proceed from the heart in Mark 7:22. Paul lists it