How Much Pride is Ok? (Poem)

See the Faith and Pride series here

Culture says it’s ok, even good to be proud,

To a degree, that is, beyond which, it is quite destructive.

So in our walk with The Lord, how much is allowed?

On this, to what extent is The Bible clear and instructive?

First…

Let’s ponder how the words, pride and proud, are closely connected.

Pride is a noun and a verb, while proud is an adjective.

Adjectives modify nouns, so with pride, proud is …‘infected’.

This infers that, with proud, we should be very attentive. ¹

There are indeed degrees of proud and pride,

Like relatives in a family that’s distant, yet ‘close’.

But with spiritual eyes opened wide,

Like kissing cousins is what I perceive Scriptures disclose.

Across The Bible, these two words are mostly used to signify,

Sinful wickedness against The Lord and all things righteous.

Only in a few verses is positivity typified.

To me, this suggests with them we should be very cautious.

The word, proud, is first mentioned in Job’s book, the first one written. 

It’s last mentioned in 1 Peter, a warning and remedy.

In Leviticus and 1 John, pride is first and last mentioned,

Speaking of the pride of power, and of a life that’s worldly. ²

Between the first and last of these noted mentions,

Lies a wealth of warnings, with both good and bad examples,

That ebb and flow over many generations,

A sandwich of sort, served to us, The Lord’s ‘now’ disciples.

By the spirit of pride, Lucifer became proud,

To the point of moving to dethrone The Lord,

Thus, as the first sin ever, pride is thus avowed,

And by Heaven, all ‘proudful-ness’ is abhorred. ³

Devils are highly deceptive, and we’re highly gullible.

With pride as their mother force, all their temptations to sin,

Must originate from this force, nodal and ‘root-a-mental’. 

Because we’re so gullible, their deceptive cloaks are thin.

‘A little leaven leavens the whole lump/loaf’, Paul twice exclaimed,

A vivid example of damage a bit of sin can do.

When put in the caldron of life, and devils turn up the flame,

A little pride and ‘proudful-ness’ e-x-p-a-n-d, and become a stew. ⁴

‘It’s ok to be proud of who you are’, some are taught.

The Bible flips this picture and central figure.

It says, ‘Don’t think of ourselves more highly than we ought.’

So then, of ourselves, how ‘highly’ ought we to think? ⁵

Jesus (pre-incarnate) clearly answers this question,

In His discourse with the weeping prophet, Jeremiah:

Ponder, then ask yourself if you embrace this doctrine,

From Him to Whom pride and the proud are …an anathema. 

“Let not the wise glory in his wisdom,

Let not the mighty glory in his might,

Nor let the rich glory in his riches;

But let him who glories, glory in this,

That he understands and knows Me,

That I am The Lord, exercising lovingkindness/grace

judgment, and righteousness in the Earth.

For in these I delight,” says The Lord.

(Jeremiah 9:23-24)

Apart from this rather narrow kind of proudful pride,

’God resists the proud, but to the humble, He gives Grace.’ ⁶

Though by the world this may generally be denied,

Please, not by us; nevertheless this review …just in case…

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¹ Pride is the quality or state of being proud. Proud ranges from having proper self-respect-to-having or displaying excessive self-esteem. (Merriam-Webster)

Pride refers to the satisfaction an individual gains from something. Proud, on the other hand, refers to the feeling of pride. See: Difference Between Pride and Proud

² See: Job 9:13, Habakkuk 2:4, 1 Peter 5:5, Leviticus 26:19 and 1 John 2:16

³ See: Mother of All Sins See also Bishop Johnson’s impressive credentials.
⁴ Paul’s references to leaven in Galatians 5:9 and 1 Corinthians 5:2 represent legalism and the sin of pride. See: What does it mean that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

⁵ In context of Christ-followers renewing our minds to conform to The Mind of Christ, Paus wrote, ‘For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he oughtto think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith’ (Romans 12:3), i.e., faith to believe what He says in His Word, The Bible.

⁶ See: 1 Peter 5:5