How can I kill my pride?  What a tough question, especially knowing how pride can be such a lonely problem. . . Pride is something we never want to admit to having – and why not?  Because we are
prideful. No wonder the Bible says, “The LORD detests all the proud of heart.” (Proverbs 16:5).
But the fact that you are here, means with God’s help, you are ready to overcome!  

So, today, let’s take on pride in a four easy steps.  #1 Let’s understand pride better.  #2 We’ll see what God says about pride.  #3 We’re going to put pride into perspective.  #4 We are going to discover the solution and slap pride around so it never bothers us again.  

#1 Let’s understand pride better.  I know a man who would never allow anyone to help him.  He even told me “I’d rather suffer or do without.”  Most would say he is so prideful he cannot possibly admit to needing someone’s help, nor admit to having a weakness.  But the part that will help us understand pride better, is how many experts would say he is so ashamed of his vulnerabilities that he hides them like a secret.  So I want you to see how pride and shame often go together.

#2 We’ll see what God says about pride.  Of course, God knows how pride can hurt us so badly.  Perhaps that’s why he encourages us so many times in both the Old and New Testaments to be wary of it.  Solomon, who was considered the wisest man in history, said, “Pride leads to disgrace” (Proverbs 11:2).  But perhaps the best summary of pride can be found in one simple sentence: “If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Galatians 6:3).  Clearly God is against pride.

#3 Let’s put pride into perspective.  First, consider how we all know in our heart of hearts that we are little, fallible, and fragile people.   We have no control over our birth, and no control over our death.  And the truth is, that we very little control over most things between those dates.  I’ll never forget when an old man screamed in a crowd of people, “I have no control.  When I have to pee, I have to pee right now.” Then I watched the poor old guy as urine started to come out of the bottom of his pants.

#4 Now that we know how pride and shame often go together, and how God is against pride, and how little control we really have, let’s discover the solution to pride forever.  

Our solution can start today because we do have some control today. . . We can choose to be extra humble before God and before others.  How do we do this?  We can be VERY proactive in our quest to kill pride, by simply saying, “I’m sorry” with a sincere heart.  I’m sorry for being prideful – first to God.  Then, I’m sorry for hurting your feelings when I. . . To someone else.  After all, isn’t pride or shame at the very core of our inabilities to apologize?

Then, to truly kill pride, all we need to do is think about the bigness of God.  We’re small.  God is big.  But he loves us!  And what better way to think about God than to spend time in the Bible – especially the Gospels – where we cannot help but see his mercy and grace, his infinite wisdom, his beauty, his sacrifice for us, and his justice.  As we spend time with God, we simply cannot help but to find ourselves decreasing as he increases.

Dear Jesus, please help us turn to you and your Word whenever we feel prideful.  And Lord God, thank you for loving all of us, even when we are truly so very small, so weak and out of control.  Thank you for loving us even though we are unworthy, even though we are sinners, even when we feel puffed up with our own little pride. Help us to grow closer to you, Oh Lord, our King.