"Pride is much more difficult to be discerned than any other corruption, because its nature very much consists in a person's having too high a thought of himself. Those that are spiritually proud, have a high conceit of these two things, their light and their humility; both which are a strong prejudice against a discovery of their pride."
~ Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts On Revivals
Idols are things that we substitute for God. They are things we fear more than God, trust more than God and desire more than God. Though idols are difficult to see, they rule us.
The idol of pride is especially pernicious. It surfaces in those who are self-righteous. The self-righteous glory in externals and on appearing right. They live a life of pretense, however. They are white-washed tombs, beautiful on the outside and bones on the inside. The idol of pride also surfaces in self-pity. Those pity party people place trust in themselves because of their pride. When they fail, which they always do, they have a pity party. They wonder why Jesus Christ is not big enough for their problems. Their problem isn't Jesus Christ. Their problem is a lack of faith. It is misplaced trust in self instead of Christ. The result is an Eeyore the Donkey who lives in a cycle of pride, failure, defeatism and self-pity in their Christian walk.
But I would argue that the most pernicious thing about pride is that it leads to self-deception. The idol of pride comes with a cloaking device. It hides itself from us. Jonathan Edwards describes why. It infects some religious people by giving them a high view of themselves, and a high view of their own humility. In fact, they pride themselves in how humble they think they are, especially given how much spiritual light they are convinced they have.
The remedy for pride is confession, repentance and renewed faith in Christ.
A must-read article that illustrates the self-deceptive nature of pride, and the importance of confession, is written by C.J. Mahaney. It is called Andy Pettite and My Confession of Sin. It illustrates how pride (and fear of what others think of us) leads to blindness and self-justification.
The brilliance of Mahaney's article is the description of a sincere confession. A sincere confession is specific and brief. Mahaney's article is brilliant and his advice is pithy and wise. Read it all.
( Hat tip: Between Two Worlds )
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