The End of Pride

Today is the end of the month of June, or as it has come to be called, Pride Month.

Though many people celebrate this month to show pride in their lifestyle, I am glad it’s over. For one, it’s a public celebration of sins which God calls abominations (Leviticus 18:22, Deuteronomy 22:5, 1 Corinthians 6:9, etc.). But second, the very name, “Pride Month,” gets something very wrong; it exalts that which the Church has long considered to be one of the “deadly sins,” namely: pride.

What is pride? The dictionary has two different definitions. The first one sounds good: “A sense of one’s own proper dignity or value; self-respect.”* This is the kind of pride used in the country song, “I’m Proud To Be An American” or in expressions about a sports victory, a good test score at school, or raising happy and successful children. This kind of pride rejoices that God made us in his image as the pinnacle of creation, and sent his Son to die for us. Pride in this sense is better than its opposite: shame.

Unfortunately, pride has a second definition, which is “Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.”* This is overweening pride, the kind in which a person thinks of him or herself as better than others, or even better than God. This is the kind of pride that God detests.

The Bible is full of condemnations against sinful pride. Here are just a few of the many pronouncements:  Proverb 8:13 – “Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.”; Proverbs 11:2 – “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”; Proverbs 29:23 – “One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.”; 2 Samuel 2:28 – “You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.” Jesus himself warned in  Mark 7:21-23 -“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Take note that pride is ranked with murder and immorality as defiling a person.

The Bible gives us examples of people who let pride puff themselves up and paid the price for it

1.  Adam and Eve. Why did they disobey God’s one prohibition and eat the forbidden fruit? The tempter framed it as able to make them “be like God,”   (Genesis 3:5). 1 John 2:16 calls this sin, the pride of life.” And what was the penalty for the pride of wanting to be like God? Only banishment from paradise, suffering, and death.

2. Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel 4, the Babylonian king learns the pitfalls of pride the hard way. He begins by surveying his magnificent city and says, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” God immediately rebuked him, and caused him to go mad, crawl like an ox and eat grass. Finally, after being duly humbled and restored to sanity, the king summed up his ordeal by saying, “and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” (4:37).

3. Theudas. In Acts 5:36, the Pharisee Gamaliel, spoke of a false Messiah who paid the price for puffing himself up: “For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.”

Truly, these example prove that Proverbs 16:18 is correct when it proclaims: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

But why does God treat pride so harshly? Because we sin when we look at ourselves as not needing God. Basically, we put ourselves in God’s place, attributing our accomplishments to our own wisdom and strength, rather than praising God for what he has done for us. Psalm 10:4 says, “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.'” In his Large Catechism, Martin Luther explained the First Commandment as meaning we are to recognize that all good comes from God. To look elsewhere (such as to ourselves), is to make a god out of that other thing.

Paul warned against this sinful pride when he wrote, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” (Romans 12:16″ and “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31). He affirmed that true Christian love seeks what is good for the other person in humility: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant” (1 Corinthian 13:4).

Today, the world is full of pride, whether celebrated in parades, boasted in the number of “likes” on social media sites, or shown by conspicuous consumption of high priced things. Isaiah warns that the day will come when all our markers of self-exalting pride will be stripped away. He says, “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (2:11), and “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless” (13:11).

Fortunately, we sinners – who are also guilty of pride – have a way out. The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk point the way in his book: “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.” And what is the faith by which we shall live? Simply this: faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, who did not grasp onto the pride which he deserved as the eternal God, but humbled himself to become man and die for our sins. By faith in him all our sins- even pride – are forgiven.

One day, all human pride will end as we stand before the throne of God at the final judgment. We will hear proclaimed the name of our Savior, and then “at the name of Jesus every knee should 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” (Philippians 2:10-11). Some will bow in joy, others in terror. but all will bow humbly, as we realize that we can boast of nothing in ourselves before the Almighty God (1 Corinthians 1:29). That’s when pride shall meet its final end.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen

Read: Daniel 4:28-37; 1 Corinthians 1:28-31; Ephesians 2:8-10.

*American heritage Dictionary, 5th Edition.

**Also known as “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood, 1983.