March 22, 2006

Humble Pride

Pride is an extremely deadly sin. Despite what you may think, we are all guilty of this outrageous crime. If you think about it, pride leads to most of the sins we commit. We lie because we do not want others to think badly about us because we have sinned. When we cheat, we do so because we think we deserve to win. Thinking we deserve anything leads to selfishness.

C.S. Lewis says that if you desperately want to know how prideful you really are, ponder on how much you hate being ignored. The more you hate being snubbed, the prouder you are. Why? There is one reason: pride is a gigantic power struggle. Whoever is better than you, richer than you, or more powerful than you is your sworn enemy. Sadly, the realization dawns upon us that we are filled to the bursting point with pride.

Without a doubt, the opposite of pride is humility. Recognizing this fact, many people enjoy trumpeting the fact that they are the most humble of men. Well, the truth is, they are not humble people, they are just disguising their pride as humility.

My sister watches the movie Pride and Prejudice all the time. The movie was based on the book written by Jane Austen about a girl named Elizabeth who despises a man by the name of Mr. Darcy because of his pride. After many events, Elizabeth finds herself liking Mr. Darcy more and more. Because you might want to watch the movie or read the book, I will not give the ending away. Yet I wanted to point out that there is a character by the name of Mr. Collins. He was a very silly fellow, but he was always remarking how humble he was. Despite his ramblings, he was always complementing himself, which immediately reveals how proud he really was.

However hard it may be, we must recognize the fact that we are miserable sinners in need of a Savior. Without God’s divine help, we will never be able to recognize just how sinful we are. Let us pray that God will take away are self-conceit and pride and give us humility.