Men's Traps - Pride

James 4:6 – But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

The sin of pride is something every person struggles with (men and women alike). If you say that you are not prideful, but very humble – that may be true, but it also might mean you are pretty prideful when it comes to your humility.

Pride is a sin. I honestly think that it is one of the most dominate of sins and one, especially us men, all deal with from time to time. The reason being, it is one of the only sins that is condemned in the Bible, but actually rewarded on earth.

Pride is the self-confidence of our self-importance – nothing wrong with confidence – as long as we are correct where that confidence is directed. The opposite of pride, which is humility, is the recognition that we are weak, unworthy, and fully dependent on Jesus. That attitude, according to James 4:6, promises us grace.

Pride is also a tricky sin – very easy to recognize it in others, very difficult to see it in ourselves. If we want to take a step to overcoming this sin, we have to learn how to identify it in our lives.

How can you know if this sin is tripping you up? A good question to ask is when the last time was you admitted that you were wrong about something? An argument with your spouse – did you take ownership or did you simply pass blame? Your co-workers, have you owned your part in a mistake or not meeting a goal, or is it always someone else’s fault? How you parent? How you are as a friend?

A good book I would recommend that has a good perspective on pride vs. humility is “Extreme

Ownership” by Jocko Willink. We own all aspects of our lives and we are first in line to take ownership and responsibility – no victims – no pride.

This is why this sin is so easy to trip us up, because what the world has to offer all contributes to building our ego. The Bible, it has another direction…

Proverbs 16:5 – Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.

Let’s do a spiritual gut-check here men. Ask God to reveal any areas of pride and be completely honest with yourself. Let’s confess this sin and realize the truth that we all share – our need to be fully dependent on Jesus.

C.S Lewis, from his book “Mere Christianity” regarding the “great sin of pride” – There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and which hardly any people except Christians ever imagine they are guilty themselves…There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.

Men, grace comes when we seek for God to get the glory, resistance comes when we want it for

ourselves.