Praiseworthy Pride Series

One of the most common paradoxes of history is the paradox of

succeeding through failure. Jesus failed to turn Israel from her sins,

and they crucified Him, but He thereby succeeded in paying the

penalty for their sin, and also for the sins of the world. By

descending into the valley of failure, He arrived at the peak of

success. The cross became both the low point, and the high point of

history. There are numerous illustrations of this paradox. A

contemporary example comes from the experience of Dr. Paul

Tournier, the well known Christian physician of Switzerland, whose

many books are very popular in America.

In his book The Adventure Of Living, he tells of a lecture he gave

at a University. He felt from the beginning of the lecture that he was

not going to make contact with his audience. He clung to his notes,

and laboriously recited with growing nervousness. When he

finished, he saw his friends slipping away to spare both he and

themselves the embarrassment of meeting. On the way home in the

car his wife burst into tears because the humiliation was so great. It

was the most miserable lecture he had ever given. The next day a

professor of philosophy called him on the phone. He said he had

listened to a large numbers of lectures in his life, and had never

heard one as bad as Dr. Tournier's. The very dullness of it, however,

intrigued him, and he wanted to meet Dr. Tournier. This was the

beginning of wonderful friendship that resulted in this professor

receiving Christ as his Savior. Dr. Tournier said, this was the source

of more lasting joy to him than if he had delivered a brilliant lecture.

It was his impressive failure that opened the door to the thrilling

success of winning a man for Christ. Praise God that He can use

even our failure for His glory.

Let us not, however, strive to fail, and seek to be nothing in the

hope that God will use it to make us successful and something. The

Christian never deliberately aims for anything but the best. Success

is always to be his goal. Set your affections on things above; press on

toward the mark for the prize; run to win; fight the good fight for

victory; whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord, give of your best to

the Master, and no less. The Christian never chooses to run poorly,

but strives always for excellence.

The result of this, of course, will be that Christians will arrive at

the goal of success by the normal route of fulfilling the requirements

for success. It is then that they face the danger of failure, and can

become an example of the paradox of failing through success. It they

let success to go their head, and become proud and boastful, they

cease to be useful instruments for the glory of God, and so they fail in

their highest goal. This is what Paul was warning against in verse 3.

The Christian who does not fall, but has by persistence in good

habits, and development of self-control, resisted temptation, can still

fail if he allows pride to make him think he is really something, even

too good to help the fallen brother.

Many Christians, seeing the danger of pride in success, fall into

the opposite danger of a false humility, nothing is more superficial

and unspiritual than when one who has done an excellent thing

pretends that it is really nothing at all. This is not humility but sheer

falsehood, or deception. A Christian who excels in some aspect of life

cannot honestly pretend that he is a dud. If a Christian boy holds the

world's record for the 100 yard dash he would appear silly if he

pretended to think he was not very fast. Karl Olsson writes, "How

many excellently cooked dinners have been dismissed by humble

housewives as nulities, a mere hogwash-because these estimable

ladies thought it sinful to admit that they were the best chicken

roasters in 7 counties, which, in effect, they knew themselves to be."

Christians can even come to the point where they are proud of

their humility, and get great satisfaction in pretending to be nothing,

and incapable of anything praiseworthy. This pretense at failure

only succeeds in making them failures while they are succeeding.

This kind of humility is only a more subtle form of pride.

I am that voice which is the faint

First, far-off sin within the saint,

When of his humbleness he first

Takes thought, and I become that thirst

Which makes him drunken with his own

Humbleness, and so casts him down

From the last painful stair that waits

His triumphing feet at heaven's gates.

In other words, false humility will cause the Christian to fall just as