Over my many years of life I have seen many, many people who have accomplished many good things and gathered in the rewards that come with victory. Many have accepted these victories with humility and have given the opposition credit for trying and doing their best.
However, on a lot of occasions many of these victors have become prideful and boisterous on their claim to fame. They have put their comfort in front of their character, their popularity ahead of their principle, and become self-indulgent while losing their self-control. All of us can attest to the fact that we know many people that are of this nature and have also put their money and fame before and above God.
Jesus warns of this kind of person in Mark 8:36 when He says, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
Pride will do this to a person. Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines pride as: an unduly high opinion of oneself; exaggerated self-esteem; conceit; haughty behavior resulting from this; arrogance; sense of one’s own dignity or worth.
All of us have a sense of pride and the world is continually telling us it is okay to be this way. What the world doesn’t know is Jesus and His teachings.
Jesus tells us again in the gospel of Mark 9:35, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
So many of us get wrapped up in what we want or want to accomplish that we allow ourselves to be controlled by worldly desires and influences.
Charles B. Rouss once said, “Not in time, place, or circumstances, but in the person lies success.”
We can all be successful and continue to have a humble attitude. All of us should be prideful in what we do, not for our glory but to the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is okay to do a job and have expectations of seeing that the job is done correctly and to the best of your ability. The problem with doing the job right is that many of us want to say, “Look what I did!” Pride will destroy us if we let it. Humility will gain us trust and good will from all who see what kind of work we do!
