Maybe there’s a reason the Bible says Pride comes before a fall. In similar fashion— speaking in economic terms—inflation comes before a fall as well. With pride, you develop such an overblown opinion of yourself that it kind of collapses under its own weight. But keeping our ego in check is always a wise bet. And humility is the best means for fighting our ego.
Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Something about pride makes it unsustainable. You just can’t go on thinking you’re the center of the universe and expect to be successful in life. True success requires a level of humility. Pride blinds us to things, but the thing it blinds us to the most is ourself. The interesting thing is the more prideful you become, the less accurately you’re able to see yourself. I suppose that could be why pride is so prominent right before a fall; you can’t get a clear view of yourself and your shortcomings; these things never get addressed and end up resulting in your demise.
James 4:6: “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” Something about keeping ourselves humble also places us in a position to receive the grace of God. It’s similar to the idea of admitting our sin to God. Jesus said in John 9:41, “….If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” We can’t even begin to receive the grace of God until we admit that we need it. This is why humility is so important. It doesn’t help us to be prideful, and only puts up a barrier between us and God.
Proverbs 27:2: “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.” The praise that comes from people—while it can be fickle and short-lived—it’s best to let them do it instead of us. If they praise us we can humbly demur. They can have an outsized opinion of us but it doesn’t mean we have to. If we’re self-aware enough to see our strengths and our weaknesses, it places us in position of keeping pride at bay. And no matter what words of praise others might have for us, instead of puffing us up, it keeps us humble.
Luke 14:11: “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” The exaltation of self is the oldest sin in the world. And it always leads to the same result. Pride naturally leads to a world that is all about you. It takes us to a place that, instead of being brighter and making us feel better, becomes darker and makes us feel worse. We think we need to pad our own self-worth somehow. But what we find happens is that we’re trying to add to something that can’t be added to or taken away. If we base it on personal performance, then we’re up one day and down the next. Our value becomes like a currency that is wildly erratic because it isn’t fixed against anything solid. But knowing the source of our value causes us to become rock-solid because we know that we are valued by the Rock—God Himself.
Matthew 10:31: “Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” God assures us of our value here, not by comparing us to sparrows, but by showing how He takes care even of the sparrow. Knowing this, how much more will He take care of us? In Him, we have a solid appraiser of our worth. We don’t need to be making wild claims about ourselves, or trying to fill an emotional void by inflating our ego. If it’s true, some others might see it. If others don’t see it, God does. In the end, we know who we are and where our worth comes from. And knowing that can be the most freeing thing there is.
Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
James 4:6: “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
Proverbs 27:2: “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.”
Luke 14:11: “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Matthew 10:31: “Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”