I can’t claim to be much of a sportsman even though I enjoy all sports. My only boast has been in my ability to kick an AFL football with a fair degree of accuracy. So my moment of glory arrived while we were on holiday in Melbourne. We had the opportunity of watching the Hawthorn football club (my team for close to 40 years) train before an important clash with Geelong. A few players close by were practising when the ball rolled my way. I picked it up relishing the fact that at 20 metres I could drill it back low and hard hitting the player on the chest. My family have frequently listened to me complain about the poor kicking of players and how I could score goals they miss. There I was with numerous people watching, anticipating the acknowledgment of a well-executed “drop punt” when to my horror the ball skewed wildly off my foot and fell well away from the target. The Hawthorn ruck coach chuckled as did some other supporters behind me. At least they all forgot about it as soon as it happened, my wife and children on the other hand laughed for a considerable time and then discussed it in the car on the way home. My eldest child has since made it her business to describe this incident to everyone who asks how the holiday went in Melbourne. I spent the rest of the training session longing for the ball to again come my way so I could redeem myself……….it didn’t happen.
A simple, humorous, and innocuous example of a vitally important spiritual maxim. Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” How many times have we been undone because pride has lulled us into a false sense of security. How many times have we been driven to do something in order to be acknowledged. How many times have difficulties erupted or escalated because of pride. Pride itself is a heinous sin but it also gives birth to many more sins.
Pride is an issue with which we must all wrestle. No heart is entirely free from pride nor can it be. By the grace of God however, we can subdue it and limit its effect. There is no easy three step solution, but there are principles which will help us. Here are just a few of many:
- Awareness: perhaps in some instances ignorance is bliss. When it comes to sin ignorance is a trap door. We need to be aware of our own personal weaknesses and propensity toward pride. In what ways is pride a stumbling block for you? Pride will be allowed to flourish if you are not aware how it works in your life.
- Acknowledgment: acknowledge the problem that pride is with prayer. Cry out for grace to overcome, cry out to God in confession when you fail. The self-sufficient have no need to pray. Prayerlessness is itself an expression of pride!
- Avoidance: remove yourself from the path of temptation. The opposite of pride is humility. Humility is cultivated by embracing the attitude and lifestyle of a servant. Pride is kept in check when we prefer others to ourselves; when we respond to those who wrong us graciously; when we do the menial things and go the extra mile; when we remember there is great reward in heaven for those who quietly and faithfully obey the Lord. Give no place to pride by clothing yourself with humility.