Staying humble…
I’ll be honest, if I was to name a big issue with myself it would be my pride. I’ve fought against it for years with some success and some failures and lately it has become apparent that many of my other sins tie into it and are cultured in it. I think pride, in both Christian and non-Christian circles is the core sin of whole lifetimes, keeping people from peace and salvation, all the while they are ignorant to the impact it is happening maybe even enjoying their self-centeredness.
Pride is a weed, its impact seeps into our daily lives, sapping relationships, both personal and private, of their spiritual fruit. I’ve seen business meetings derail because of pride and I’ve seen heart-to-heart talk of salvation be crumpled because of pride and in both cases it was me at fault. Years have past and I constantly fight against this pervasive destroyer of spiritual fruit.
I’ve been asked what is sin, and after years of looking at definitions I think it is selfishness. Look at the ten commandments and you’ll see that they act to define our interaction with our Creator and our interaction with others He created. Even these simple rules cause us to chafe with discomfort as they essentially state “you aren’t the center of the universe, I am.” We’ve been tricked into Satan (just as Adam and Eve were) that we are the most important, most capable, and most self-sufficient creatures in the universe; the problem comes in when God is quite clear that we are operating under a false core of lies from the great deceiver. Sin itself may be undefinable, but its symptomology of selfishness is quite clear.
To all of those who struggle with these things as I do – I cannot give a magic bullet, I can however give you encouragement. The secret to victory is Christ. He’s God, we’re the man, and we can’t have to do anything to prove otherwise. Accept God’s precepts and will, remind yourself that He’s the best at everything. If you’re an artist then it is His work you are poorly imitating. If you are a musician it is his work you are poorly imitating. God is the best Architect, finest theologian, and most careful physician. I cannot say that just by acknowledging these things pride will go away, but in seeking to understand them the sin of selfishness will have less of a hold. Pride (for me) takes constant vigilence because I must watch over the smoldering ashes of my selfish and sinful nature, if I leave it alone it will spring back. Christ may one day grant me victory, but in the meantime I have been blessed with the knowledge of just how selfish I am, but in seeing my own sin I see all the greater the glory of God.