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The Downfall of our Pride

Pride. I think it is our biggest enemy on most days. It is the toughest thing for us to lay down. The thing we hold onto with every last ounce we have. It leads us into trouble and it lies to us.

Pride. It’s our downfall.

I know so many times when I get into an argument with my husband that the only thing standing in the way of us resolving things is my pride. It’s up to me to swallow it if I want to move on and it can be so hard. But the more I do it, the easier it gets. The less I do it, the more that stubborn pride grows roots and resolves itself to stand firm. Nothing ever gets accomplished when that happens.

Pride has caused politicians to deny wrongdoing.  Pride has broken up marriages instead of healing them.  Pride has murdered people, broken relationships, wounded children, and left people living life in loneliness and hurt.

I think we hold on to our pride so deeply because of a deep sense of entitlement. We see things in black or white/right and wrong and think that holding onto our pride is the only way they can deserve a “right” outcome. Maybe we are punishing someone else – or ourselves because we think we deserve it.

In  Psalm 10:4 it says, “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”

So if I’m holding onto my pride leaving no room for God – if He’s not in me and for me – then He is against me! And I’d much rather swallow my pride and have God on my side then actually pit God against me and my cause all because of my pride. Yes, it can be embarrassing, it can be painful to swallow our pride at times. But humility brings healing whereas pride only brings our own downfall; whether by growing bitterness in our hearts, by lying to us, by isolating us, by ruining relationships, or by wasting the work that God could be doing in our lives or the lives of others.

I think so many times we ignore God’s Word when it doesn’t “work” for us. If we don’t want to bury the hatchet and restore a friendship that has soured, we ignore where it says in Matthew 18:21, “Lord, how often should my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said unto Him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” 

Sometimes it may take years to forgive someone but have you even begun the process? Have you asked God to start working in your heart and bringing you to that point of forgiveness? Or are you letting pride take root in your heart causing God to ignore your pleas altogether?

I think we need to understand that pride appears to be our best friend in life. We look at it as part of our soul sometimes. But all it really is is our selfish nature. It’s the part of us that refuses to say “I’m sorry” or to let something go and move on. It’s the part of us that wants to shout to the whole world that, “Hey! I was really hurt here!” And no one would ever discount your hurt or maybe things you’d lost along the way. But the point is, is that you can never look at what you can gain as long as you’re holding onto your pride. You can never really move forward because as long as you hold onto your pride – you’re holding onto that situation, conversation, or person in some way. You’re holding onto the exact thing that you claim you want to forget or remove from your life. If you swallow your pride and instead decide to forgive, to love, and to embrace what happened to you in a way that works positive in your life and someone else’s, there is no need for you to hold onto your stubborn pride. Because in a way, you’ve gained a different kind of pride, one that molds itself into self esteem, honor, and freedom.

I struggle with pride just as much as the next person. But I’m working on it and I’m asking God to help me heal, forgive, and bury my pride even though every part of me wants to hold onto it because of certain injustices that have happened in my life. But you know what? If I let go of my pride – it doesn’t mean those injustices didn’t happen to me. They still did. But it means that I can let go of their hold over me. And that is my heart’s desire – to be free.

God forgave me. He forgave me for so much. It cost Him His life. If He can forgive me over and over again, the least I can do is work to forgive others.

I don’t want pride to rule my life. I don’t want it to ruin me or to be my downfall. Please work to not let it be yours either.

~ Dionna Sanchez

http://emphasisonmoms.blogspot.com