C. S. Lewis says of pride; ‘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’ (Mere Christianity). So how do we fight this insidious sin?
The sad reality of pride is we cannot actually fight pride without becoming MORE proud. If humility is ‘thinking of yourself less’ (C. S. Lewis), then pride is not just thinking more highly of yourself than you should, pride is simply ‘thinking of yourself more’. As such, when we are actively trying to fight pride in ourselves, we are proudly thinking about ourselves. So what do we do?
Step 1 is to stop thinking about our pride. In fact, we need to stop thinking about ourselves altogether (1 Cor 4:3).
Step 2 is to think about God more. If we wake up in the morning thinking about ourselves, the surest remedy is to pick up God’s word. Along with the obvious benefits to our overall relationship with God, and the fact that Satan just hates us doing it, daily Bible reading and meditation is the most potent weapon there is against pride.
Step 3 is to think about others more. Instead of stewing over those who have hurt us, or the honour we feel we are owed, think about what we can do for others. The truly humble person is not identified by how they talk themselves down, but by how interested they are in others.
Step 4 is to pray for God to MAKE us humble. This is of course a deeply courageous prayer, as the road to humility is paved with either (i) deep humiliation, or (ii) long-term suffering. After 12 years of slavery and prison, Joseph could either stew over what he was owed, or forget about himself altogether. He chose the latter and found real humility.
