THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 6, NUMBER 35,  SEPTEMBER 3, 2006

“WHEN PRIDE COMETH, THEN COMETH SHAME”

            The title for this article is taken from Proverbs 11:2, and asserts a basic bible truth.  When pride develops in the heart of an individual, he or she is headed for a fall.   Solomon made the same point in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”    It has been my experience in life that some of the most difficult people to deal with, to teach and reach with the Word of God, are those most affected by pride.

            Let’s define what we are talking about.  Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, gives the following first definition of pride.  “A high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.”  While that gives us a good idea of the attitude that I am addressing in this article, I really like what Webster’s presented concerning the synonyms.   “PRIDE, CONCEIT, SELF-ESTEEM, EGOTISM, VANITY, VAINGLORY imply an unduly favorable idea of one’s own appearance, advantages, achievements, etc., and often apply to offensive characteristics.  PRIDE is a lofty and often arrogant assumption of superiority in some respect: Pride must have a fall. CONCEIT implies an exaggerated estimate of one’s own abilities or attainments, together with pride: blinded by conceit.  SELF-ESTEEM may imply an estimate of oneself that is higher than that held by others: a ridiculous self-esteem.  EGOTISM implies an excessive preoccupation with oneself or with one’s own concerns, usually but not always accompanied by pride or conceit: His egotism blinded him to others’ difficulties.  VANITY implies self-admiration and an excessive desire to be admired by others: His vanity was easily flattered.  VAINGLORY, somewhat literary, implies an inordinate and therefore empty or unjustified pride:  puffed up by vainglory.”

            Let’s take pride and place it in the hearts of some and see what it can and will do.  In Proverbs 13:10, we read, “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.”  Pride generates contention in a congregation.   It is a great instigator, causing those affected by it to take exception to every contradiction, every suggestion, anything that might appear to be a little different from his way of thinking.

            Pride produces sinful and foolish speech.  Proverbs 14:3 tells us, “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.”    There are a couple of ways this could be looked at, both bad and harmful to the congregation where it occurs.  Solomon could be saying that as a fool grows more conceited and prideful, his speech will become more insolent and unkind toward others.  Or he could be saying that the man who is foolish enough to speak boastfully will feel the chastening rod of his own foolishness eventually.

            Pride will also produce strife among brethren; that you can count on.  In Proverbs 28:25, we read, “He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat.”   The person filled with pride can never, or will never, say that he was wrong.   Consequently, every wrong or foolish statement made requires more wrong or foolish statements to defend it.   When pride will not permit a person to say that he was wrong, than he can never back up.  Instead of climbing out of the hole his statements have dug, every additional statement simply makes the hole deeper. 

            There is an aspect of the conduct of a prideful man that is almost paradoxical in nature.  One who is filled with pride is easily used.  We might ask, “How can someone with a high opinion of himself be easily manipulated?”  The answer is simple, appeal to that high opinion.  Consider Proverbs 25:27.  “It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.”  It is hard indeed for a prideful man not to pay close attention to words of praise and compliments.  Praise him enough, compliment him enough, and he will be yours forever.

            The kind of pride that we are writing about is a sin.  Solomon wrote in Proverbs 21:4, “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.”  It is a dangerous, soul condemning thing.  When John was writing of the methods by which Satan tempts man to sin, he wrote in 1 John 2:15-16, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”  This would be life’s empty pride.  It causes a man to cling to things that do not matter, boast of things he has not done, and to consider himself above all others.

            Is there a cure for this sin of pride?  Of course there is, but I do believe that this sin is particularly insidious because it is so difficult for the man filled with pride to even entertain the thought that he might need to repent.  It is so difficult for the prideful man to even consider the possibility that he needs to reevaluate his position in God’s creation.  It is so difficult for the prideful man to finally say, “Lord, forgive me.  I have been wrong.” 

                                                            Greg Litmer

THEREFORE, BE YE ALSO READY!

            The terrible tragedy of the Comair crash in Lexington last Sunday has been so disturbing to me.  Vicky and I have talked about how many times we have sat in a plane awaiting takeoff, usually excited because we were going somewhere for a vacation or adventure, just like those 49 people were.   Within a few minutes, they were dead.  What a sobering thought!