Out of the seven capital sins:
pride, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth, pride is one of the most
profound of human weaknesses which takes the focus off of God and puts it on
self. It is an attitude of self-worship and a self-important superiority of our
mind that tells us we are better than, greater than, smarter than, wiser than,
more knowledgeable than, more qualified than, more important than, more
deserving than anyone else.
Pride hardens the mind and refuses
to hear the wisdom of anyone. It is an acid that turns the finest fruit bitter.
It is a superficial weed that grows in all soils, without need of water or
care. It consumes and destroys every living thing that it overshadows. It is a
swelling of the heart filled with ego and self-importance and raises us above others
until we look down upon them. It is a cancer that rots the soul and blackens
the soul, making it an ugly thing to behold even to the owner of that soul. A
man infected with pride needs nothing, not even God. It throws up a wall
between God and us, and rejects His help and guidance. It is the total
inability to see beyond ourselves. It is a very ungodly and unholy attribute
for a Christian to have and especially for a religious.
Another major portion of this very
prevalent sin of pride is enmity toward our fellowmen. It constantly brings
contention, division and strife. The mind of a proud man seeks to construct
everything in his internal world to offer up continual adoration and praise to
the self, to the ego. He makes every man his enemy by opposing their
intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents and elevating himself above others
and diminishing them. If others seem to excel more, he can find a way to
depreciate that person or find fault.
He is easily offended and holds
grudges. He withholds forgiveness to keep another in his debt and to justify
his injured feelings. He is not easily taught and he won’t change his mind to
accept truths, because to do so imply he has been wrong. He does not receive
advice or correction easily and always says, “My way is right, no other way is
right.”
God hates pride because it
separates us from Him. It quenches His Spirit in us and prevents His Life in
our hearts from flowing out into our lives. It builds walls between God and us,
and that is the reason Satan revels in the proud. He will do anything he can to
get us to trade in our humility and intimate relationship with Christ for pride
and intellectual knowledge of Him.
We know from the history that pride
is the downfall of angels, kings, priests, generals, soldiers, lovers, and men
in high places falling headlong into the abyss of sin. The scriptures abound
with evidences of the severe consequences of the sin of pride to individuals,
groups, cities, and nations.
The angel Lucifer (Satan's original
name) was cast from heaven because of his pride. He was transformed from an
angel of light to an angel of darkness due to his pride. Pride was the sin of
Adam and Eve who disobeyed God and wanted to become like him. It destroyed the
Nephite nation and the city of Sodom. Pride brought on the confusion of tongues
at the Tower of Babel; pride brought defeat to Pharaoh and to Goliath; pride
reduced Nebuchadnezzar to the condition of an animal; Saul became an enemy to
David through pride. King Noah was about
to free the prophet Abinadi, but an appeal to his pride by his wicked priests
sent Abinadi to the flames. Herod sorrowed at the request of his wife to behead
John the Baptist. His death resulted
because he gave not God the glory. He prided himself equal to God and the Lord
smote him. Pride drew Christ's divine criticism upon the Pharisees and the
Scribes.
Only insecure people love human
applause. They have to make sure that everybody knows what they have accomplished
and from where they have come. They get their identity in being promoted, but
they forget that promotion comes from God. They take great pride in driving the
right kind of car, keeping an expensive mobile, living in the right kind of
house and office. They wear designer clothes and show themselves that they have
been born with a silver spoon in their month and they are from rich and
respected families. They feel proud of their accomplishments and their
identity.
Consider the emptiness of created
things. How empty is fame, how empty is praise, how empty the little
satisfactions we get from boasting and criticizing. Remember that we came from
nothing, we are nothing, and we can do nothing, except in so far as God helps
us.
If anyone has a right to be proud,
it must be God. After all, He created the world without any help from us. He
Himself is uncreated, eternal, and utterly faultless. If we think there is a
problem with God, we are just showing our ignorance. He Himself dwells in
unapproachable light, He is mighty, glorious and perfect in beauty and
splendour, all-knowing - no one and nothing can compare to Him. He is the only
One qualified to be proud. And yet, He is humble.
We all must have seen the movie,
"King of Kings." Produced years ago by Cecil De Mille. One of the
most interesting parts of the play is that which pictures Mary Magdalene
meeting our Lord for the first time. She came to Christ - a sinner; she left -
a saint. She came - proud, sensual, and vain; she left - humble and mortified.
She came - guilty; she left - forgiven. It was intensely interesting to see how
this change took place.
Christ merely looks at Mary, looks
into her very soul. And that look of our Lord softens her proud heart. She
draws back some distance. She cannot bear that sad, loving look. The struggle
in her soul is clearly shown in the picture. Each in its turn, the seven deadly
sins come in the guise of devils and whisper into the ear of Magdalene. Each in
turn is repulsed by her, as she drinks in grace from the gaze of Christ. The
devil of pride and the devil of avarice, together with the devils of lust,
anger, gluttony, envy and sloth, are firmly brushed aside. Finally Mary is free
of her old tempters. In shame she drops her head. In modesty she covers her
half-nude body. She rushes to Christ and falls at His feet. There she secures
the forgiveness for which her entire being is crying out.
Like Mary Magdalene, we also are
affected and enslaved by at least some if not all of these same death-dealing
devils, the seven capital sins. It is not our privilege to look into the
physical face of Jesus, as she did. Nevertheless, we can go before Christ
present in the tabernacle and by faith look into His face as He looks into our
hearts and ask him to give us power to fight against the sin of pride which is
our greatest enemy - the root of all that is evil, and the failure of all that
is good.
May Christ's humility drive out our
pride, as His love and grace drove pride from the heart of Mary Magdalene.
