The Ugliness of Pride & Arrogance
“My Big Ego ♫”
The above title is a song by the very worldly Beyonce and Kanye West.
The world’s view of humility is warped. They look at humility as weakness and pride as confidence. To be humble is to be disrespected. I guess they think: because that humble person is modest in their behavior, or isn’t acting, walking and bragging about their accomplishments, they must not have too much going on for them – therefore, I’m better than them. It’s almost as if: if you are lowly, the natural response of the proud is to step on you.
Respect is earned?
The world says, “respect is earned, not given“. In other words: I don’t have to show others respect unless they do things that I feel are worthy of my esteem or praise. This viewpoint is so sinful and so clearly against scripture. God says: respect everyone, no matter if you think they are worthy of your esteem or not. If you believe the world’s lie, you’ll find yourself always doing something to be noticed, to be praised and to be respected. And you’ll finally get that respect too, but this respect comes from men rather than God. And so, sinful men will have control over your self-value and worth – they’ll have the power to give and to take. We should care less about respect from men, but rather, the respect of God.
As Christians, we are called to be like Jesus; and humility is one of his attributes. Humility it also one of the things he was “hated-on” for. The proud Pharisees were the complete opposite of Jesus and this is one of the reasons they persecuted him. Don’t be surprised to see your religious leaders and “Christian brothers and sisters” treat you bad just because you’re being humble like Jesus:
Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also (John 15:20).
When we are humble and not prideful, we show are love for people; and we please our God who is the only one who deserves to be glorified, praised and worshiped.
