Pride and Humility

Proverbs 29:23 A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

This verse declares that there is an opposite reaction between pride and humility. Now the pride discussed here is not the idea of being proud of a job well done or family pride. It is not talking about being a proud worker, patriot , or craftsman. This kind of pride is arrogance and haughtiness, an inner weakness that manifests itself outwardly with the ornaments of a bad attitude and condescension. A person with this kind of pride is like the person in James 1:23-24 that is a hearer of the word and not a doer. This person looks in the mirror and sees an untrue reflection.
When the Bible says that a man's pride shall bring him low it is not necessarily talking about bringing him into humility, which may happen, but more like a 'fall from on high'. Often a prideful person will have to hit rock bottom and linger there awhile before realizing that the distorted image in the mirror wasn't a true reflection of themselves. No doubt this is a hard lesson to learn, and I write on this subject from personal knowledge. Someone told me years ago that I was 'condescending', but I didn't even know what that word meant then. My reaction was to talk down to that person and try to throw some bad light on them. The fall to rock bottom for me was a long and hard one, but the long , hard look in the mirror was harder than the fall. I realized that there was nothing special about me and that my pride had fooled me into thinking I was better than everyone else. It definitely wasn't a pleasant experience, but I must confess that it was a worthwhile experience. The Bible says that honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. That is the honour that God gives to the humble, which is worth more than the honour we give ourselves. God is looking for people He can use that have a humble and teachable spirit, not someone that is above serving others. The old saying, 'the way up is to get down' is very true in the Christian life. Let's take some time and look into the mirror of the Word of God and ask the Lord to reveal us to ourselves the way He sees us. We will become more useful servants in the Kingdom of God and will have a greater impact on our society. God bless.