Pride— Part One…
It is a theme that pops up regularly in my heart and in my life.
I hate it. With a capital H.
It’s sneaky. It’s murderous. It’s detestable.
It’s pride.
The root of a lot of sin that we get tangled up with is pride.
It’s the deep seeded poison that ruins relationships, reputations, character, and love.
It’s the exact opposite of Jesus, our Savior.
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2
Recently, I came across this list of Mother Teresa. It hit me to the core and I pray it helps you as well.
I am praying as I write, for you to have an open heart to receive anything God wants to show you today.
He loves you.
He wants our whole hearts.
Pride separates us from Him.
Pride focuses on me, myself, and I.
Mother Teresa’s Humility List:
1. Speak as little as possible about yourself.
2. Keep busy with your own affairs and not those of others.
3. Avoid curiosity.
4. Do not interfere in the affairs of others.
5. Accept small irritations with good humor.
6. Do not dwell on the faults of others.
7. Accept censures even if unmerited.
8. Give in to the will of others.
9. Accept insults and injuries.
10. Accept contempt, being forgotten and disregarded.
11. Be courteous and delicate even when provoked by someone.
12. Do not seek to be admired and loved.
13. Do not protect yourself behind your own dignity.
14. Give in, in discussions, even when you are right.
15. Choose always the more difficult task.
Now, let’s break down some of these, beginning with the first one…”speak as little about yourself as possible.”
Ouch. Don’t we know people that talk incessantly about themselves? EEk. Maybe we are one of them. It’s a sure sign of a lack of humility. Pay attention to your conversations. Ask God to help you with this. We must be careful not to put ourselves in the judgement seat when others are doing this—then we are guilty of pride as well.
Next one, “keep busy with your own affairs and not the affairs of others.” This comes straight from 1 Thessalonians 4:11: “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
As women, we are such BUSY BODIES. We have the tendency to be nosey, gossipy, and slanderous. Paul warns of this over and over in the New Testament. He was very leary of women teaching or even speaking in the church because of this.
I am not woman bashing here, I am a woman. HOWEVER, gossip and slander can be intoxicating. It makes us feel better about ourselves when someone else is not doing as well.
We must tend to our own little red wagons, as my mother would say. Pray for your neighbor, but let’s keep their business out of our view and out of our mouths.
The next one is tricky. I have prayed about this one and whew, God sure opened my eyes to things I was doing that wasn’t healthy or humility seeking.
Social media is a place for the incessantly curious. It just is. We want to see how everyone else is doing. How do their kids look? Are they aging well? How many trips have they been on this year?
Curiosity is dangerous. It takes our eyes off of contentment and can lead us straight into a pit of discontent.
Ask God to show you areas where you may be too curious…He will open your eyes.
“Do not interfere with the affairs of others” is number 4 on the humility list.
At times we feel compelled to intervene into someone else’s affairs. We feel like we need to step in and help the situation.
My husband has been the biggest contributing factor to help me in this area. He constantly tells me to step back when I feel compelled to help or act.
He has been right every time.
Unless, and only unless…after much counsel, much prayer, and much seeking answers in The Word, we feel the nudge to step in…
Then, let’s don’t.
The next one, “accept small irritations with good humor”…
When is the last time you laughed it off when someone pulled out in front of you, or stepped in front of you in the grocery line, or some other act of irritation?
We are so WOUND TIGHT. The smallest of irritations send us into a tailspin.
What if we said, “haha, they must really be in a hurry! Or, well, I guess they didn’t see us, it’s ok.”
Those around us, especially children watching us, we will be moved by our lack of irritation.
Let’s put this one into practice on the regular. The world needs some good humored people, for Heaven’s sake.
I will end on, “do not dwell on the faults of others.”
Okay, this one can be tough.
In marriage, we tend to dwell on our spouse’s shortcomings and are quickly able to list them out!
In friendship, we get our feelings hurt, or we disapprove on how a certain friend is behaving. We brew and stew when a friend isn’t living up to our idea of friendship.
What if we began to dwell on the GOOD things about others? When those negative thoughts come, replace them with uplifting thoughts and see what a difference it makes in your attitude and your relationships.
Well, we are off to a running start in our quest for humility. We will dive into more of this list in the next post.
For now, keep this list near you. Go over it daily.
I was brought to tears not long ago when I realized pride had swelled up in my heart over a few things. I was so disgusted with myself, and begged God to forgive me and fix me.
It makes my insides hurt to think how this world breathes pride into our lungs. It thrives on pride and selfishness and self-promoting platforms.
God hates pride.
It is detestable to Him. Verse after verse, you will find this to be true in God’s Word.
Look up those scriptures as homework. Meditate on those scriptures. Let Him gently and sweetly reveal areas of pride in your life.
He is so Kind and Gentle and Merciful with us.
“Humility is the mother of all virtues; purity, charity and obedience. It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and ardent. If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. If you are blamed you will not be discouraged. If they call you a saint you will not put yourself on a pedestal.”-Mother Teresa
seeking a heart like Jesus,
jill
