Pride.

(I guess I'm starting to like having one-word titles for my posts. It makes me feel cool.)

Pride was the downfall of Lucifer. Or Satan.

I think it's a lot of people's downfalls, and even worse, I feel like we're all in denial about it. Especially Christians. It's really easy for us to think we're better than people, often because it makes us feel better about ourselves. It's like winning a video game or being good at basketball. You have something people don't.

During missions training a few days ago, Pastor Carl was talking about someone... I completely forget who, but said something like, "What the world needs is a religion or set of beliefs that humbles its believers." I'm pretty sure that Christianity is supposed to do that, but a lot of times we forget that. We forget that we are completely, utterly ridden with sin, that we are in absolute need of a God who will reach down to us, that was are undoubtedly incapable of earning our own salvation.


John 15:5 reads, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Unfortunately, it's extremely easy for us to take the word "nothing" lightly. But let's think about it for just one extra second instead of passing it by; apart from Jesus, we can do NOTHING. Nothing. Even if you take this as not literally meaning nothing (which some of you may), it's a pretty extreme word. Zero. We can't breathe, can't walk, can't talk, can't even live day to day without Jesus. Whether we know that or not (believer or not?), it's true.

And this seems like it should be pretty humbling in itself. Of course there are other reasons why we should be humbled; we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who utterly humbled himself, and in the end, gave himself into the hands of man in order that we would be saved.

In reference to the previous post, maybe humility is somehow linked to trust. Trust in others. Better yet, trust in God. If we understand, fully believe and accept that we are capable of nothing, then there is a LOT more space for God to do many things in our lives.

A friend once told me that he/she was told that they were too prideful to the point where it was keeping them from really experiencing God. And when you think about it, it makes sense. If we learn what true humility is, and live with this in our hearts, there is so much space for things that are really great. Like, for example, love. I don't think love can be very prideful, if at all. I think love is what happens when you put someone else's needs entirely before your own. Pride tends to work the other way, always putting ourselves in the center of the picture.

So take a look at your life. Where are you prideful? Do you think you are more righteous than someone else? That you're better than others because you pray more? Even more than not being able to do anything apart from God, Jesus says that "the greatest among you will be your servant" (Matthew 23:11). The last time I checked, it didn't take a whole lot to be a servant. Servants usually do daily chores. Things that anyone can do, but nobody really wants to. It's also pretty easy to say that we're serving people through our gifts; which is perfectly fine, if your hearts in the right place. And a good way to check might be trying to do something that requires zero skill. Maybe.

I think if you take the time to pray against your own pride and ask God to utterly take control of your life, you will experience true transformation. You'll change how you act, how you speak, the every action that you take. Maybe you won't crack the same jokes, because you'll realize you're doing it for attention, because you think you're funnier than everyone else. Or you'll realize that everything you thought you earned was really given to you, for no reason that you can claim as your own doing.

And do pray. I feel like praying is God's ultimate way of humbling us; it's how we can say, "God, I can't do this, I need your help. I need you to transform my heart, because I can't do it myself, and nobody around me can do it either. I need You."

(Though there is much more to be said about this issue, let's just leave it at this for now.)