Pride

Tough subject. Also something I'm lacking at the moment, as I don't know how to do my job and there is no one around to ask. So... looks like it's blog time.

You may not get how this relates to pride right away, but stick with me, I'll get there. So I was listening to a podcast on religion yesterday, and it was talking about how when people used to travel, they would worship the gods of the people they vistited, and sometimes bring those back home with them, and incorporate them into their religion and culture. They knew they were seeking, looking for what was right... even if now we say they were looking in the wrong places. There was an openness, and a searching attitude.

Now if I look at our society today, I see people (forgive the generalization) who feel they must have an opinion, and stick to it, whether or not it's right. Just to defend their cause. I think pride gets in the way of seeking. Many people when the come to faith can label that "big change" moment, and for many it also comes after some sort of experience that makes us realize we cannot handle life on our own, making us see the need for a savior. I wonder if we weren't so prideful as a society, if that need for a savior would just be known. Perhaps everyone who doesn't believe would be seeking. Instead, God has to bash a lot of us over the head with a hammer to get our attention.

After being a Christian for years, I still have to be knocked off my feet from time to time, as I'm otherwise unwilling to get on my knees. I am so convicted of my pride when I look at Jesus... the one being who has ever lived perfect on this earth, and yet check this out:

"Let your attitude be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself unto death, even death on a cross." I could stop there for the sake of this entry, but the next part is beautiful... "That at the name of Jesus every knee would bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." What an exciting picture of what is to come! (That was from Philippians 2).

There are also some important things about pride to be learned from Romans 12. Take "We belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others (vs.5)". Even living in community should be an exercise in humility. Don't you think we could form deeper relationships if we would humble ourselves to admit that we need each other?

What would happen if we would humble ourselves and be willing to utilize each other's gifts, as opposed to coveting them, and sharing our gifts as opposed to keeping them for ourselves? (vs.6-8)

There are more great verses in that passage obviously talking about pride, but those are a couple thoughts that stuck out in my mind. There's so much to be said for painting a realistic picture of ourselves... both the picture we show ourselves and the one we show others. So... I'll become even more undignified than this. Some might say it's foolishness, but that bat will swing right over my head if I'm on my knees before God.