Pride v. Humility

This past Sunday and Monday, my church orchestra did its annual Christmas program – we did it twice on Sunday evening and then again on Monday night. And this was after rehearsals for three nights last week. My part in the orchestra is to play the synthesizer. This is a keyboard instrument that can make all kinds of different instrumental sounds. As a musician, I learned a long time ago that it is easy to let pride creep into my attitude. I have to make sure that I always pray for all the glory to go to God for any music that I play. I play first of all because I feel that God has gifted me with this talent so that I can give praise, honor and glory back to Him. Each Sunday at the other church where I play the piano, people always give me compliments and wonderful encouragement. I am so thankful for that and it is something that I really need because it helps me keep going. But I have to be careful to find that balance of not becoming prideful while still being grateful and respectful toward those who give me compliments.

Pride is something I believe everyone has trouble with to some degree. For Christians, we realize that too much pride or having a haughty attitude is sin. The dictionary says this kind of pride means “thinking too well of oneself; haughty, arrogant.” The Bible says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. That thought alone should be enough to make us want to stay away from the sin of pride. But there are also other negative consequences of pride mentioned in the Bible including being disgraced, quarrels, punishment from God, destruction and downfall. When I feel the pride creeping into my attitude, I have to remember that God opposes the proud. I don’t want God to oppose me.

The opposite of pride is humility. The definition of humility or humble is: “modest, without wrongful pride in oneself or one’s accomplishments; patient and mild disposition.” God gives grace to the humble – isn’t that much more desirable than being opposed by God? Being humble doesn’t come naturally – it takes a lot of work and a lot of dependence on God. But it is definitely something to start working toward! I am listing some verses below that are about this subject – to read them, all you have to do is click on it and it will take you to the verse.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

James 4:6
1 Peter 5:5
Proverbs 13:10
Proverbs 15:33
Proverbs 16:5
Proverbs 16:18
Proverbs 18:12
Proverbs 29:23