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When the subject of pride is mentioned, it is nearly always taken negatively. We live in a broken world where good and evil lie not only side-by-side, but are often intertwined. While it is true that pride has been called the cardinal sin, we will look at pride from both angles.

When pride is viewed as self-esteem it is valuable in giving a person dignity and self worth, while at the same time agreeing that it can be carried too far. Ben Jonson called it, “That solemn vice of greatness.” We hear of “Black Pride” and “Hispanic Pride” but no one has a corner on the need for it; all of us need to feel some sense of importance in order to make a contribution to society. I do not agree with the term “Gay Pride” as the promoters of that lifestyle are simply trying to legitimize an act that the Bible and society in general denounces.

As for the negative aspects of pride, they are legion. Pride causes men to think themselves better than others, which often sets them against one other.

Pride in rulers is dangerous. Think of all the world’s dictators and how boastful they were. A prime example today is Cesar Chavez of Venezuela. It was pride that kept Hitler from surrendering early and saving a large part of Germany. An old Jewish proverb says that pride masks one’s own faults.

The most important thing to be written against pride is the fact that God abhors it. The Old Testament contains many scriptures that bring this out. Proverbs 16:5 says, “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD....” God cannot use the proud; they want to go their own way. Remember the story of King Uzziah, who, at his height of power decided he would bypass the priests and burn his own incense at the altar. God smote him with leprosy.

“In Christianity, pride (also vanity or arrogance) is the essentially competitive and excessive belief in one’s own abilities that interferes with the individual’s recognition of the grace of God, or the worth which God sees in others; for example: Psalm 10:4 says, “In his pride the wicked does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” (Wikipedia)

Someone has said that a man who is tempted to think more highly of himself than he ought should remember that the cockroach was placed on this earth before man was.

So, what does all this mean to believers? Several New Testament scriptures apply: 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

1 Peter 5:5: “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

Raymond Smith is president of the Strong Families of Victoria.