Proud… Lots of scripture address the issue of pride….and do so in a negative light. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6) So are we to have no pride??
I wonder that we don’t use the words pride and proud loosely. We equate them with our sense of satisfaction over personal accomplishments, or those of our loved ones. We think of our government, our country, and the armed forces who guard our freedoms…and we sing that we are ‘proud to be an American…’
We think of self-esteem, taking pains to look our best...personal ‘pride’. We consider our advancement in any arena, personal or public, to be something to be ‘proud’ of.
Perhaps the words ‘thankful for’ should often be replaced for our use of the words ‘proud of’. ?? We forget that it is God Who has created everything within the realm of our reality. He gives us the capacity to do any good we do….we do not accomplish one good thing that does bear His Fingerprints.
We can, however, manage on our own to do a lot of damage…. we all suffer from the same eternally fatal disease. Sin. “..all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”(Romans 3:23)
The word translated ‘proud’ in James 4:6 is ‘huperephanos’. It means to place above, to regard superior. Arrogance comes to my mind. And I’ve had holy reminders before about what I term ‘spiritual arrogance’. God has every right to wear glory feathers in His cap. I do not. It is only by His grace and merciful love that I do not suffer eternal death from this disease of sin we all suffer from, and only then thru Jesus Christ….not from personal accomplishments or defeating it in and of myself. My symptoms may manifest themselves differently than yours…but we all have the same disease….and we all need saving from it. We need a Savior.
Scripture does not teach us to have no care or regard about all these things we say we take ‘pride’ in…but it does teach us to remember that ‘every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.’ (James 1:17)
There are lots of ways to say it…this wrong thing of ‘pride’…arrogance and self-conceit, conceit about our own excellence…. any thing that contributes to our own importance and exalts our opinion of self or exalts us in the eyes of others.
None of this negates the striving for excellence for the glory of God. But let us always be sure it’s for His glory….and not our own.
