"'God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.'
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."
-1 Peter 5:5-7
Honestly, pride is something I have always struggled with and continue to struggle with. And the worst thing is, pride is never just pride. Pride just grows and grows and multiplies itself into hatred and dishonesty and mistrust and hypocrisy and a host of other sins. Why? Because the problem with pride is that the person who has it begins to think that they are the source of good things in life, and other people and circumstances are the source of bad things. That mindset is just a breeding ground for everything else. Hitler is a prime example (I am too, but we'll get to that). As World War II progressed and Germany was dominating, Hitler was feeling quite confident. However, his pride led to a paranoia of managing the whole war himself. He was sure his generals were inept and trying to kill him. And so he had them killed. Of course this was a terrible strategy and ultimately led to his downfall (along with other things, but this is not a history lesson.) Do you see the logical progression of erosion? First of all, pride hits hardest when things are going well. Second, pride hurts our relationships. Lastly, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Hitler wasn't immune to it, neither are you. And neither am I.
My senior year in high school is a prime example. I was coming off a good summer playing AAU basketball, and I was first in my class academically coming into the fall semester. I was feeling good about myself. Then to start off the year, I get an email from the head guru lady of the schools in our county saying I had received some county-wide achievement award. I'm grateful I received it, but looking back, it was just adding fuel to the fire. The first step of regression had started. Things were going well, and I thought it was all due to my own abilities and talents. Step Two didn't skip me either. It hit me full on, and the relationship that was most strained was the one with my younger sister. I just treated her terribly really the whole year, and it was completely unmerited. The fall came the last half of basketball season, which was the most disappointing half of a season I'd ever had. It affected me a great deal. I was angry with my coaches, I was blaming everything on others. Ultimately, I stopped caring much about spending time with my Redeemer as I once had. It was a fall. But herein lies the beauty of the Bible and the God who inspired it. It doesn't stop after pride takes you down. It offers rescue. Look at it, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time." There it is. I can tell you from experience that it works. I promise I didn't do it perfectly, but I realized that I had been sinning against others and against God, and I just confessed that to Him, asking for a spirit of humility. It was hard having to learn that lesson, but rest of my senior year was infinitely better. Do I still struggle with pride? Sure. Every day. But I'm learning.
There is one last part to that passage that Peter writes that jumped out at me today that I hadn't thought about before. He talks about humility and God lifting us up in due time, and the very next sentence says this, "Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." What does that have to do with humility and God lifting us up? Here's what I think he's saying. Humility isn't easy. When you're a humble person, especially in the America we live in, you will take a lot of flack. It may mean not getting a promotion because you don't go tooting your own horn all the time, and instead just quietly get the job done. Or it may mean letting others get glory for something you contributed most to. Sometimes it can mean dealing with stressful financial situations because you are faithful to give 30% of your paycheck back to God, no matter what's going on in your life. Here's my point: humility as a lifestyle choice is not going to be an easy road. There will be anxieties, and when we have them, we don't have to carry them on our own. We serve a God who will take those worries upon His infinite shoulders. We serve a God who cares for us. He will not make us go it alone.
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