- Few people will admit to being proud. It’s difficult thing to see in yourself.
- In our passage for this morning (James 4:6), it tells us that God opposes the proud. That’s worth stopping to ponder: God sets Himself against such people. God will actively work against the proud. I think it goes without saying that you’re not going to accomplish much in your life if you have God opposing you.
- We all know from dealing with prideful people that pride is something that repels people. We don’t want to be around those who are prideful. That’s another good reason to not want to have pride in our lives: we don’t want to be the person that people want to avoid.
- Because pride is so hard to detect in ourselves, I want to spend this sermon talking about some of the signs of pride in your life.
Seven Signs Of Pride In Your Life:
1. Do I pity the less educated and less successful?
- We sometimes look down on those who haven’t done as well as us in life, pitying them.
- We look at our place in life with a little bit of smugness.
- The pride antidote: Do I recognize how much of my success was out of my hands?
- No doubt that each of us who have been blessed with education and success have played a part in achieving that, but we need to ponder how much was out of our hands.
- Did you choose to be born in a developed country? Did you choose your parents who loved you? Did you choose to be smart? Did you choose to live in a place with educational opportunities? If you’ve been healthy, did you choose to have no congenital medical problems?
- Yes, we worked for it, but there was also a lot that was out of our hands. And because of that, we should be humble.
2. Is my first thought at someone’s mistake judgment or mercy?
- Many of us are very short with those around us who make mistakes. It might be a co-worker. It might be a waitress. It might be a child. It might be someone at a store.
- Either verbally or non-verbally, we fume over their error and how it’s inconvenienced us. Why can’t they get their act together?
- We’re quick with judgment over their mistake.
- The pride antidote: You make inexcusable mistakes too.
- On the other hand, when we think of mistakes we’ve made, we have overflowing excuses for that. Yes, I yelled at my child, but you don’t know the day I’d had at work. Yes, I forgot about the meeting, but the boss has been dumping tons of work on me. Yes, I had an affair, but you don’t know the way my spouse has been treating me for the last three years. And on and on it goes.
- We have a justification for all our mistakes. They’re all excusable in our minds.
- In truth, though, we’ve all made inexcusable mistakes. We’ve messed up and it was our fault. Even if part of the blame belongs to someone else, there is still a solid portion that is fully our responsibility. We have to be willing to admit that we’ve make mistakes. And because of that, we should be humble.
3. Do I gripe a lot or am I verbally thankful?
- Pretty much all of us in this room have plenty of food to eat. Pretty much all of us in this room have a place to sleep tonight. Pretty much all of us in this room have clothes to wear this week.
- Yet, for people blessed enough to have the basics of life covered, we sure do complain a lot. We find ways to be dissatisfied about so many things.
- On the flip side of that, we rarely are verbally thankful for the things that we enjoy.
- Just to cite one example, so many people around the world lack access to clean water, yet how seldom to consider what a great gift it is to be able to turn on the faucet any time we want and have clean water (hot or cold!)?
- The pride antidote: Complaining often comes because I think I deserve better.
- The key word here is “deserve.” We’ve enjoyed the material blessings of America so long that we feel entitled to them.
- In fact, I don’t just deserve enough – I deserve better.
- And when I don’t get everything I want, I whine and gripe.
- Why are we like that when we’ve been given so much. And because of that, we should be humble.
4. Do I see myself as spiritually advanced?
- Especially after we’ve been a Christian for a while, that thought can begin to creep in. Maybe it happens after we assume leadership role in the church. Perhaps we just begin to answer more questions than we ask.
- In any event, we can begin to see ourselves as being pretty advanced spiritually.
- The pride antidote: Should I focus on “how far ahead of others” or “how far short of Christ”?
- We shouldn’t focus on how much farther we are than those around us (even if we could accurately measure that, which we can’t). Rather, we should focus on how far short of Christ’s perfect standard we fall.
- When we use this measure, we can clearly see we have a long way to go. And because of that, we should be humble.
5. Do you love approval and applause?
- An obvious trait of someone with pride is that they love to hear the applause of those around them. It further puffs up their pride and self-worth. They love the approval of the people around them, which they take as a sign of their important status.
- This is becoming an increasing reality. Because of the media-saturated upbringing that many younger people have today, this need for approval and applause is perhaps stronger than it’s ever been. One survey noted that young adults put verbal approval at the top of the list of things they desired. (It ranked higher than money or sex.)
- The pride antidote: God is our life audience.
- We all need some degree of affirmation from others, but it quickly becomes dysfunctional when we make that our main focus.
- We need to understand that God is the audience of our life. He is the one who will judge us someday.
- It doesn’t matter if everyone praises us and we leave this world as the most celebrated person around – it’s God’s opinion that matters. And because of that, we should stay humble.
6. Am I consumed by appearance?
- We are a society consumed by appearances, both physical and social.
- We want to look good and be impressive.
- The pride antidote: What’s inside matters more.
- We all know someone (or maybe we are someone) who outwardly appears to have all the best, but whose life is a shambles behind the scenes. There’s a hypocrisy to that.
- Further, we don’t want to spend our lives consumed with secondary things. We want to live for what matters more. And because of that, we should stay humble.
7. Am I unable to apologize, confess, or ask for help?
- Many people find it difficult to apologize. How many marriages are hurt by the unwillingness of one partner to never admit they’re wrong?
- Many people are unable to confess, even to God, even when they’ve clearly done wrong.
- Many people are unwilling to ask for help, even when they clearly need it.
- In all three cases, it’s often pride that’s the culprit.
- The pride antidote: Why would anyone find it hard to admit they’re imperfect?
- Why are unwilling to admit that we’re imperfect? There’s no one but Christ who has been perfect. It shouldn’t be tough to admit that we’ve fallen short. But then pride creeps in.
- We need to apologize, confess, and ask for help. And because of that, we should stay humble.
Conclusion:
- As we close, let’s go back to the verse we began with. God opposes the proud. Are there things we talked about this morning that have made you reconsider how much pride there is in your life?
