Pride and Humility Through The Biblical Perspective

Introduction

In the everyday life of the people, there’s a big possibility that something will happen. It may be good or bad. Which side? What will exactly happen? God only knows. Why? Because He planned it accordingly since the beginning. There were people that is really the opposite of another, just like milk and coffee, black and white and even oil and water, in other word Good and Bad. For example, a person who sees the fault of others deeply and like a microscope but his or her fault as a telescope. They focus on others failure than their own.

Sometimes, people should think of themselves first rather than other people, because at the end of the day you, yourself is the one responsible on your action and never the other people. But there were also people who are compassionate and forgiving enough. These kinds of people were really blessed for that kind of attitude. They sometimes think that they don’t deserve the blessing and opportunities that God gave them, but they truly deserve it. Pride and Humility has something and has a connection with the words written above.

Pride and Humility is a two different thing. Pride is the bad side and Humility is the other way around, the good side. They are really the opposite. Pride is known as the Great Sin so it is really a dangerous and not so good. In this world, there were so many prideful people than humble ones. There were situations that really suits to them. For the Pride, Satan is the greatest example of it while for the Humility it is none other than Jesus Christ. Pride is concerned with who is right while Humility is concerned with what is right. Sometimes when something happened, it is good to know first what it is all about rather than who is involved in the situation to weigh both sides. But still both sides are needed to know to perform a certain solution about it. There are really certain things in people’s life that is really opposite of the other. People cannot do anything about it. Also people cannot avoid Pride because it is already natural in them. Although it is a bad side, as much as possible avoid it. And Humility, we have to be humble all the time, be like Jesus Christ. He is the perfect example of Humility in everything. In this kind of world, Humility is needed more than Pride. Always look into the bright side of everything, people commit mistakes but that is not the end of it. As much as try to be good always so that other people will eventually be like whom you are, because of your character. And that is the best thing.

Pride

All Human Beings naturally have pride. Even though you’re an adult or a child, still you have your pride with you because it is natural. Also, Pride is often seen as the first sin. It is the sin which caused the devil to fall from his privileged position as an angel of light that is called now Satan. Plus, Satan used it to tempt Adam and Eve away from their fellowship with God. According to Daniel Webster these are one of the examples of how pride was defined. It is the quality or state of being proud, as in inordinate self-esteem or conceit, or a reasonable or justifiable self-respect or delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship; defined as proud or disdainful behavior or treatment.

St. Thomas Aquinas said that, “Pride understands it to be that frame of mind in which a man, through the love of his own worth, aims to withdraw himself from subjection to Almighty God, and sets at naught the commands of superiors. Vainglory, ambition, and presumption are commonly enumerated as the offspring vices of pride.”

According to Wellman (2015), Pride is not a problem of an individual but is it the problem of everyone, of all human being. It is also defined as a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction in an achievement, or in an accomplishment or in something else or someone else. Also it is described as conceit, egotism and vanity. It is an inwardly direct emotion that can easily hurt other people and typically makes one feel a sense of superiority over the other.

This kind of attitude and doing is not good for anyone. Nobody can make you and feel others their superiority unless they are God. Whatever happens to them, if they accomplish something, they are on top, everyone praises them they don’t have the right to make themselves the superior because at the end of the day, they are ordinary people in the eyes of God.

For example, when a person is good enough over the other or he or she achieved something that is really hard to accomplish, it means that the pride is the one building them. He or she thinks that he is the good, the better and the best above others, which is really wrong. When your pride works, you lose the capacity to respect other people and you tend to disrespect them always because you will only see yourself as the best. You only see them below you or under you.

Another thing, from the bible verse, I Corinthians 13:4 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” When a person is so proud of himself or herself, it is not good in the eyes of God. Just like the bible verse mentioned above, if you know how to love and you want to be loved, you have to be Kind, Patient and do not Envy, Boast and be Proud. Being proud simply means being Prideful. “

To forgive is to forget”, according to the Holy Bible. But why is it that when a man forgives someone, he does not completely forget what that person did to him instead he is still bothered about it. Thus, it is really difficult for a human being to forget what went wrong. From the bible verse, Hebrews 10:17 “And their sins and their lawlessness, man would I will by no means remember any more.” When a human being confessed already his or her sins in the eyes of God it is already forgotten. When He forgives, absolutely He forgets and considers a man as if they are sinless and they never sinned.

However, when a man can’t forgive another man it means that his pride is the one working. It is the matter of his pride because he can’t forget and forgive another man. Therefore if God knows how to forgive and to forget, so as man should either knows how to forgive. No matter how man does sins against one another, they should take Jesus as their God of forgiveness and learn to forgive others.

Being proud or prideful simply means that you are hiding something and not letting other people knows about it. Why? Because they are ashamed of it. You keep it to yourself only. You always wanted to prove something even if it’s not good anymore. You always want people to look on you, and that is Pride. When something went wrong, a prideful person blames others even if it is their own fault. Pride is already their weakness. Sometimes what makes you strong is also the one who can make you weak.

Symptoms of Pride

For example a type of cholesterol. Cholesterol hardens the blood vessels. Same a pride, it has a hardening effect on the heart of the person. From Daniel 5:20 states that “when his heart became arrogant and already hardened with pride, he was desposed from his royal throne and stripped from his glory.” Simply means that pride hardens the views and inputs of others. From the bible verse 2 Chronicles 36:11-13 when Zedekiah did something evil in the eyes of God and did not humble himself before Prophet Jeremiah, and he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. It means that when our hearts is lifted to what the world has to offer, it will eventually harden because of pride.

Consequences of Pride

It destroys relationship. The pride of the people really destroys the relationship. Why? Because of pride you don’t want and you can’t listen to what the people trying to say and explain to you. The pride is really a hindrance to the relationship and it blocks it through called the communication. The one who’s into the relationship doesn’t want to listen because his or her pride told him or her not to. But like the other people says that always listen to one another to have an open communication and for you to be able to understand each other. This is one of the consequences of pride or being proud, it destroys the relationship of a person to other people.

It blocks helps. Why? Because if the person let his or her pride work, he or she thinks that she or he can do anything. You’ll not ask help from others even from God. The thought that runs into his or her mind that he or she can do anything it eventually when in reality he or she can’t. A proud or a prideful person thinks that he or she doesn’t need help anymore from anyone or anybody around her. People should accept that they can’t do all things they want to do. Always remember that sometimes we need a helping hand or a simple help from anybody to accomplish something or to be successful in what we wanted to do.

Treatment/Prevention of Pride

Our hearts must only be for God. Only for God and not for others. Another one, Great Care is required if we are to keep our pride at bay. Remember that our flesh is weak and it is naturally default to pride. While the love of God always give us what we need. Moreover, God and thus those like Him, always give, and are not prideful.

From the bible verse, John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This is the very famous verse among the bible verse almost about everything. God is a merciful God that He gave his Only Son for the world to be redeemed from sins.

Pride, we cannot do anything about pride because it is already natural to us. Human Beings already have it. Thus, people should know how to control their pride enough because if they didn’t control it, it might result to something sinful or dangerous. God doesn’t want it. Plus, this is the weakness of everyone – Pride.

Rather than having a pride, why should not turn it into something positive, which is Humility. Having a humble heart or being humble is a good choice and a good decision. Just like Jesu Christ who is the perfect example of Humility presented in the bible.

Humility

Humility is a Greek Word used in Colossians 3; it is a combination of two words that together means “a humiliation or lowliness of mind.” There are people in this word that has a sense of humility. Moreover, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Humility is in which a man has a modest estimate of his own worth, and submits himself to others. A Quality by which a person considering his or her own defects has a lowly opinion of himself or herself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God’s sake. For example, a humble person has a modest opinion of himself, and viewing himself as small before God and even smaller before others. He also recognizes and rejoices and happy in the strengths and talents of other people. A man submits himself to those over him and is courteous and yielding to those under him. He is also concerned for the welfare of others, and is willing to give up his own wants or needs or desires for the benefit of other people. From the Holy Bible, in the book of Matthew, Chapter 18 it says there that when we are humble it is one of the key to enter the kingdom of God at the end of time or when we die. Also a man needed to be like little children to enter heaven. Why? Because children are pure, they are less sin than the older ones. Children don’t have any achievements yet that they can tell others. They are purely humble of themselves. In simple words, being humble is one of the keys to enter the kingdom of heaven and at the same time doing good and avoiding what is evil. Also this indicates that in order for a man to enter into the kingdom of the heaven, he or she must be humble enough and must not disrespect any believer, but rather love his or brothers and sisters as much as he or love himself or herself and forgive them eventually if they have sinned to you. Why? Because if a man is too proud and do not forgive their brothers or their sisters, they will not be able to enter into the kingdom of the heaven at the end of time. The man should not let his or her pride works fro it but rather be humble enough.

From Luke Chapter 18:9-30 states the teaching to man about entering the kingdom of God. Our Lord mentions three steps: (1) to humble oneself before God as a sinner, realizing the need of God's propitiation; (2), to be like a little child, without any preoccupying concept; and (3), to follow the Savior by overcoming being occupied by riches and all other material matters. Above them all, being humble or having humility is included to enter heaven. When a person is humble or having humility towards God, it is the best strategy and best way to fight God’s enemies, the devils. From 2 Timothy 2:22, it says there that to “tell us to flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness with those who call on His name out of a pure heart.” It means that when a person is more humble than the he is before the others and before God, the more he or she will go to heaven and enter the kingdom of God. It also tells us that being humble and not too proud of something about yourself means a man having a good relationship with the other people and as well as to his or her brothers and sisters because being humble will help him or her not to hurt other people eventually. People need to be humle, because at the end of the day, Humility will save them. From the bible verse Romans 12:16 “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited” this means that people should love one another and live in harmoby. Don’t isolate and separate yourself from others because in the eyes of God we are all equal. Do not be proud of yourself because you achieve something but be humble enough and help others to do the same.

In 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” means this that if we are humble enough, God will lift us up eventually and be able to enter the kingdom of God at the end of time. It is for us to be with God if we die, we came from God and it is a must that we must go back to Him. In His loving and everlasting arms and love.

Jesus Christ, Himself. From Philippians 2:5-11 even though Jesus is the son of God, he humbly Himself to all the people. Even though people disrespect Him and not believing that Hes is the son of God. He gave himself for the world to redeem from the sins. Thus, Jesus Christ is also known as our greatest friend. These kind of people is really essential and a must need in this world, people who always there for others and knows exactly what they wanted to do. Also helping others without expecting in something in return. And the perfect example of Humility is our Savior, Jesus Christ, Himself. He sacrifices and gave Himself to redeem the people from their sins to the world. He loves people more than Himself even though He is the Son of God. Let us always think that Humility means Making Others More Important Than Yourself. That was Jesus did when He redeemed the world from sins. He loves the people with all His heart even though he will be crucified and knowing that He is the son of God still He did it. Humility is all about Him. They say that it is very hard to be humble. Why? Because there were so many temptations around the world. But don’t ever let that temptations tempt you because it will ruin you and you will not be able to humble yourself rather, you will become the prideful one. However, we already have the so called Original Sin which we inherit from Adam and Eve still, we must humble ourselves and we must obey God at all times. Nothing is wrong when we obey God’s commandment. It is for our own good. It may take a hard work to be humble but when you did it, you will eventually realize that is it worth it. It is worth the hard work you made.

Simple Ways to be Humble

Don’t be angry or offended when someone corrects you. It is not wrong when someone corrects you and gives their own opinion to you. Sometimes it is okay to hear from what other people would say to you to be able to understand and look more deeply on the situation. It can make the things a lot better. Always think that 2 heads are better than one.

Set asides your desires when someone needs you. If someone needs your help, don’t hesitate to help because it means a lot to them. Sometimes a little help can change something or anything into something big. And you might know, when you also need help in time, someone is there for you also. Be cheerful and obey your parents. Always and always obey your parents. Why? They know what’s best for you more than anyone else. They have the capacity to decide what’s good for you even though you don’t like or love it. Parents are very important. Don’t take them from granted because at the end of the day you’ll always look for them.

Pray. Always see to it that you pray to God and remember that you are a blessing. A blessing that can change the life of others. A kind of blessing to your own family. And a kind of blessing that God is really proud of. Always pray that you will help yourself to be humble at all times and help other people too.

Give Thanks. Do not forget to thank God for all the blessings He gave you. For all the trials and challenges and for His one and only Son that He gave to redeem the world. Thank Him for all the people around you that really support you no matter what happen. For all the people who corrects you when you are wrong.

Humility is as simple a submitting ourselves to God and obey Him always. In this, we are greatly humble just what God wanted us to be and for us to recognized that God is over and above all things. If we are humble enough, we are simply just like Jesus Christ, who is the perfect example of Humility. Don’t ever think that being humble is a hard thing to do rather than take it as challenge and at the same time a blessing.

At the end of the day God wants us to be humble because He wanted us to be with Him when our time comes. In simple words, God wanted His people to return to Him because He made them. He wanted them to rejoice in Him in heaven and be with Him forever.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Pride and Humility is really a two different thing. Pride is the negative side, and Humility is the positive side. Having Pride is natural to every human being. It is not a problem of someone but rather a problem of everyone. Pride is the loss of humility and this is the root of every sin and evil. It is the root of all sins. Just like what happen to the fallen angels including Lucifer, where they believe that they can surpass God and look upon themselves which eventually led them to be cast down from heaven into darkness.

People having pride, is really not good. If the pride works for them, eventually a bad thing will happen. Example of this is it can destroy a relationship because one seems not know how to listen enough to the other one. Another is it blocks help, when you are a prideful person, you think that you don’t need a help anymore because you think that you can do it eventually even if you can’t.

The other way around is Humility, which is the real opposite of pride. Humility means is not thinking yourself less, but rather thinking of yourself less. You always see to it that you put others needs first, before yours. Just like what happened to our Savior, He saves the people from their sins and eventually made Him crucified and died. In order for a man to enter the kingdom of God which is Heaven, he or she must be humble enough towards others. Helping others and putting others first before Him is a sign of being humble. There are different bible verses in the bible that explains briefly what it means to be humble and helps us to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Pride and Humility is a really contradicting topic. You have the positive and the negative side. You always have to weigh things in order for you to have a good outcome or result. We have to always remember what God wanted us to be. Humble enough ourselves to enter the kingdom or heaven and set aside pride in order to avoid evil doings or activity.