Feb
26
2008

Pride vs. Brokenness

Filed under: Following Jesus, Scripture

Pride.

There are lots of different kinds of pride. Pride in your children. Pride in your country or your alma mater. All of these kinds of pride can be healthy…in moderation. But the kind of pride that God speaks against in his word is nothing like those “feel good” types of pride. Pride is one of those sins that we tend to just gloss over and not fret too much about. In our minds, it’s not quite the same as murdering someone or committing adultery. But the thing is…it IS in the same group. A “sin is a sin is a sin” in the mind of God. All sins separate us from Christ and require repentance. In the following passage from Mark, Jesus is speaking about what is inside of you…and how it can defile you. He lists all of these horrible sounding sins…and then WHOA! He throws pride in there…along with envy, slander (gossip), and foolishness. I think that we tend to trivialize these other sins…and yet they are so completely destructive if we don’t stop them in their tracks.

And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

Mark 7:20-22

Right now, I’d like to focus specifically on pride. I was recently given a wonderful resource from Revive our Hearts/Nancy Leigh DeMoss…it’s a study on pride vs. brokenness (or humbleness) and it details the many differences between the two. It’s been such a life changing study for me and I wanted to pass it on to you.

Here are just a few of the comparisons:

Proud people focus on the failures of others…broken people are overwhelmed with the sense of their OWN spiritual need.

Proud people have to prove that they are right…broken people are willing to yield the right to be right.

Proud people claim “rights” and have a demanding spirit…broken people yield their rights and have a meek spirit.

Proud people have a drive to be recognized and appreciated…broken people have a sense of their own unworthiness; thrilled that God would use them at all.

Proud people feel confident in how much they know…broken people are humbled by how very much they have to learn.

Questions to ask yourself…evidences of pride:

Do you look down on those who are less educated, less affluent, less refined, or less successful than yourself?

Do you think of yourself as “more spiritual” than your mate or others in your church?

Are you quick to find fault with others and to verbalize those thoughts to others? Do you have a sharp, critical tongue?

Are you driven to receive approval, praise, or acceptance from others?

Are you uncomfortable inviting people into your home because you don’t think it’s nice enough or you can’t afford to do lavish entertaining?

Do you become defensive when you are criticized or corrected?

I have been so convicted by this study…it completely brings my focus back to Christ. Jesus Christ is the only reason I am not condemned by my failures. He has saved me and I owe everything to Him. With that in mind…how could I ever think that I have any “rights” in my life? How could I ever look down upon someone else…knowing that I am nothing without Christ?

Now…all of this may sound so “defeated” and not “empowered” in the sense of the word that our world uses it. If you watch TV or listen to any sort of media, you will hear that it’s ALL about you and that YOU have control over everything in your life. You pretty much ARE GOD. This is the ultimate in pride.

But God desires for you to be confident and beautiful and amazing…but He wants you to be confident in HIM, beautifully made by HIM, and live an amazing life with HIM and for HIM.

In studying “brokenness”, I have migrated into studying what the Bible says about love and mercy. When your focus is on loving others and showing mercies to others, it’s much harder to be full of pride.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6

He has showed you, O Man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

And my very favorite…you have to read this 3-4 times to really get it into your heart:

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand it’s own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record or when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. … There are three things that will endure — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7,13

Wow. To live a life of love…that’s what I want! To show mercy and to be broken in Christ. How I long to be those things! It is ONLY by the Holy Spirit’s power in my life that I could even dream of grasping at them. I am so thankful that God uses circumstances in my life, the people I am surrounded with, and His word to gently teach me in these areas.

This is my prayer today…

LORD! I desire a broken spirit…a spirit of love. Clean out my critical spirit. I don’t want it anymore. Let me look for love and peace in every situation. Make me overwhelmed at every moment with a sense of my own spiritual need…not anyone else’s. Let me see all others as better than myself. Help me to deny my selfish desires and be motivated to serve others. I have nothing to offer except a life that flows through Jesus. I have so much to learn. I am not concerned with being “right”. Help me to be humble and slow to correct others. Give me a teachable spirit…one that longs for your Word and your truth. I love you Jesus…and it’s in your name I pray. Amen.

Posted by Sara @ 2:40 pm | Leave a Comment

http://www.dinahsoar.blogspot.com/ Dinah Soar

I was saved for a long time before I fully understood the sin of pride. It was a huge sin in my life and I was not aware of it.

God is supreme…I am “under” him, it is I who submit to him. Anytime I put him in second place by placing my desire/want ahead of what He would desire/want, I am prideful, or full of pride.

For years I thought I was o.k. as long as I didn’t violate any Scriptural “rules”—I thought I could do as I pleased.

I understood that my salvation was by grace through faith, and that I’d began a relationship with God. But thereafter I didn’t know how to proceed, so I did what so many do trying to earn their salvation–be good. I figured if I was “good” God would be well pleased with me.

Rich Mullins put it this way: as believers we can be good or we can be God’s.

When I finally saw that my sin was that I wanted what I wanted for myself and not what God wanted for me, only then did I realize I’d set myself above Him.

I was so shocked that I had been so blind…and I wept bitter tears.

What does God say about any given thing?

If we are not totally in agreement with Him, then we are going our own way, putting Him in second place and self in first place. Therein is pride.

It can be difficult to recongize. The compasrisons and evidences listed above are very concise and helpful.

Another sin in my own life along with the pride was the sin of murmurring…I hadn’t paid it much attention, but when I saw that my murmurring was actually a complaint against God and stemmed from my pride I could only think—woe is me.

It is quite shocking when we “see” ourselves as a holy God sees us. Thankfully He loves us and demonstrated that love by paying the price to redeem us “while we were yet sinners”.

I think had I been better discipled it wouldn’t have taken me 30 years to understand. When I got saved I went to church almost 24/7, but the church was more about the church, being faithful to the church was the emphasis and doing what the pastor said to do. It was very cultish….

After a few years I knew something was not right, and pulled away from it.

Discipling new converts is critical…as is making sure they know that in order to know the God of the Word they must know the Word of God.
http://renaissancemama.blogspot.com/ Dawn

As always, you are so encouraging. Thank you for sharing this important topic. All I can say is, Amen.
http://www.bezao.com girlwithmoxy

I so appreciate your honest and true writing! I needed to hear this today, because I often have felt that pride is the easily hidden sin that many people including myself can suffer. I especially LOVED your thoughts on discipling others who are new to His Word. I think that is so underrated, yet so crucial to developing a real relationship with Jesus. “The church” doesn’t hold the answers; but He does! Thank you again for the beauty of your words!
http://seedlingsinstone.blogspot.com L.L. Barkat

Oddly enough, I think that people who’ve been broken by outside forces, particularly in childhood, may exhibit some of these symptoms of “pride”. Perhaps it is the fear of ever being broken again that feeds the symptom. Maybe it is helpful to consider types of brokenness?
http://muchadoaboutbooks.blogspot.com Jane

Thanks Sara for such a challenging post. I love the resources that website has. This post really spoke to me.
http://myheartismyhome.blogspot.com Megan

Great post, your comment on our culture of ‘me’ got me remembering something my pastor said several months ago. On the same topic of culture he noted,”take a look around you…it’s everywhere. MYspace, FACEbook, I-pod…and the saddest, most ironic for the U.S. Army: an army of ONE.”

p.s. I can’t stand those little girl t-shirts that say “it’s all about me” or “Attitude problem.”
Laurie B

I am always puzzled by those bumper stickers with the American flag and the “Power of Pride” slogan. I am proud to be American, but there is something about that “Power of Pride” slogan that has always rubbed me the wrong way. I think you are hitting on that in this post.
Ariel Glenn

Hi Sara!
I have been reading a book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Testament to Freedom) and pride is an overt and underlying theme in much of his work. Seeing what can happen to a people and nation over national pride has been a real eye-opener (Germany in WW II). But reading about Bonhoeffer’s love of God’s Word has been like a balm to my soul. There is no peace with God without laying down our will and pride and submitting completely to Him. Your writing about this is such a timely note in my own life. I think that in America, even Christians want-what-we-want and believe that if we don’t get it “our way” then God is not good, faithful, trustworthy, etc. We miss out on a lot I think because of this issue of pride. We want only our own rule, and then are surprised when we are miserable under our self-imposed prisons. But God’s path is the only one that leads to wholeness, spiritual health, and peace with God.
Thanks for posting this!
God Bless,
AG
M

Sara …

I stumbled here on accident through a bizarre number of blog links. Usually, I would have just clicked away, as yours is not a perspective that I’m generally intune with. Your amazing passion and articulate nature have continued to draw me back, though. Religion and I are having a fight these days, but you’ve put this tiny inkling of hope at a resolution somewhere deep in my heart. Thank you.
http://www.todayshomemaker.com Sarah

God has given you such a way with words. I am always so glad when there is a new post. The words God has given you are never trite or easy. They always testify to his goodness and our need. Thank you for letting God provide meat for us hungry sparrows through you.
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http://www.goodlikeamedicine.com Kristi

Religion and I are having a fight these days, but you’ve put this tiny inkling of hope at a resolution somewhere deep in my heart. –M

That’s really awesome…

I just read this in Mark 7 yesterday morning! I had to read it about four times to let it sink in… and think about what is truly inside my heart. Thanks for this post. I am doing a series on loving other people right now and linked here today because you said everything about pride that I was hoping to say in my next post!

See you soon, Sara, and may God be blessing you with His favor as you aim to walk in humility.
http://www.proverbs31living.blogspot.com Abbi

Thank you for the great post! That is something I am constantly working on in my life and the more reminders that I get to work on it the better.
http://katissavedbygrace.wordpress.com Kat

Such an inspiring post, thank you for sharing. I plan to reread it again with my husband. I too have so much to learn and so much to pray about.
http://www.myheartwillrejoice.blogspot.com bree

This is the first time I’ve read your blog (found it from Mainelymom). What a great post! Thank you! God bless!
Bree
http://mytotalpv.blogspot.com Mama Podkayne

Hey Sara! Thank you for sharing your insights. Posts like this certainly lead me to my own contemplation.
http://www.rawmodel.com Anthony Anderson

I hope you realize that you have Christ potential…just as much as Jesus did when he was young. Its a VAST leap in conscious to realize that he was one of the first…and that we are all able to reach his level by shedding ego and desires.

The more you exalt him, the more you denounce yourself and others…no?
http://www.soupspoon.typepad.com L*Joy

to view others as images of God should drastically alter my interactions with them. I should humbly and honestly seek truth and authenticity with others, but instead it is so easy to put up perfect appearances or on the flip-side, superficial modesty. To view others as truly Children of the most high God should humble my heart when I interact with them; Not puff myself up (1 Corinthians Eight) I long to grow in this truth. Thanks for the reminder, conviction, and re-route.
L*Joy
http://www.couple-colouredskies.blogspot.com Terri

I definitely needed to read this. Thanks for posting it.
http://bottomland.typepad.com Caren

This is an interesting post Sara. As someone who struggles with depression, and spends a lot of time feeling “broken,” I’m not sure that brokenness is God’s ultimate goal for us. Personally, I think the opposite of pride is wholeness, for when we are truly healed by God, and whole in who we are created to be, we will have the appropriate balance of humility (this is the KEY!) and delight in our own strengths AND weaknesses, and will be free of judgment towards others or ourselves.
Gerald G.

Hiya sara, just to let you know i liked the “Pride” column. I’m really tuned into that and the other seven deadly sins. I believe there are the opposites to each that would benefit the entire population. We are under one massive black cloud that has been here for 6,000 years. Ever since Adam took from the tree of knowledge, all his begotton children will endure the pain’s of great sins. It is the baptism of repenttance for the remission of our sins that will lead us to salvation. We can’t just accept Jesus as our savior and expect to be saved. We have to work at it by way of humble confession to each and all seven deadly sins and how we’ve lived doing those unpleasing acts. Then it comes down to reaching out to the holy spirit to merge into the humand spirit to become permanent part of one’s character. With the shield of that, we come to realize in order to sustain’s one’s life in the govenment of man, we slowly understand the government god; loving Him, obeying Him, walking with Him, the “Giving” aspect rather than the “Getting” belief, which this world only understands. As a native american, the process of assimulation, has decimated our people, let alone all the diseases. What I’m beginning to see now for the survival of our nations and our lanquage, is what I call “Reverse Assimulation”. Holy moly, think of that concept, it would be a massive undertaking, an overhaul of each tribal nation. Whoa. Leave materialistic
“getting” and come back to “spiritulistic” giving, the way the creator meant it to be. It will be hard to give up phones and MySpace crap, but i know it can be done. Only if one’s eyes can be opened. But N-E ways, keep up the good work and c-ya, G is out.
http://tendernessac.blogspot.com Amber

I tried to click on the link for the book but for some reason I couldn’t get to it. Where I can I get this book? I looked on half.com but it said they were out of stock…do you know where I might be able to order it?
AngelaLynne

Sara, I LOVE your ministry of encouragement; I have never posted and I want you to know that. You are a breath of fresh air. I am writing today, however, because I have been so concerned by something Gerald said (03/28) in his post: “It is the baptism of repentance for the remission of our sins that will lead us to salvation. We can’t just accept Jesus as our savior and expect to be saved. We have to work at it …” Gerald, salvation comes by Christ ALONE. Ephesians 2:8-9 says,”For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” The works WE do are the PROOF of HIS work of salvation on the cross in our life, and of our acceptance of His work (the fruit of the Spirit). God’s blessings to you, Gerald; I say all this because it is for HIS glory that we are continually changed into Christ’s likeness.
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Ashley J

sara . . . what an excellent post. God is so good at convicting our sin.
http://www.lifeintheparsonage.blogspot.com Sarah

Hello! Heth sent me to this post because of a recent one I did on pride…good stuff, that Nancy Leigh DeMoss Thanks for sharing!
http://justagirlonajourney.blogspot.com/ Feesh

Hi Sara…. this post has really hit home with me. God has used it to shed light on pride in my life. I was wondering if you can provide the name of the booklet you got from Nancy Leigh DeMoss? I checked the website and wasn’t quite sure which one it would be. I want to read it.
Thanks so much!
Sunny

I found you on AT, at first I thought u were one of “those” do-gooders, and u are, but in the best way.(I should be ashamed of my cynicism). But reading your blog totally changed my first, and highly judgemental, impression of who you are and what you represent.

God Bless and thanks for the lesson.
http://www.urbanprairieforest.blogspot.com sjsd

i recently picked up this book. i scanned this post when you first wrote it, not ever taking the time to read the entire thing [probably because i didn't want to hear it and then so do it], but something in it really stuck with me. so a dear friend and i are going to read it, discuss, challenge and encourage one another toward brokeness….something i so so desire, for my pride to be taken down and truely walk in humility.
http://CageFreeFamily.com Aimee

Have you ever read Power vs. Force? I found the section on pride to be very enlightening!
http://www.rachelrowell.wordpress.com Rachel

I love this. I needed this. Thank you.
Laura Clarke

Hello Sara!
So, I’m just going to be honest and hope that you don’t find me really creepy.
I discovered this charming, lovely and EXTREMELY INSPIRING blog of yours (haha, whilst googling dreadlock stuff… you have beautiful dreads!) and immediately fell in love with your family. What your family does is remarkable and just so inspiring. I’m sure you hear that a lot, but honestly. I have learned so much by reading your blog!
How you live is how I aspire to live. I just want you to know that you are loved
& appreciated! I hope you and your family is doing well.
-Laura C.
http://hubpages.com/hub/successful-weightloss-secrets-are-more-than-a-myth Rock Solid Abs

Really good quality information and facts.
http://www.uwsp.edu/Athletics/mbb/qfacts.htm Quick Facts

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http://americanhealthjournal Jacquline Detterich

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