Wednesday Wisdom: Pride and Prejudice

I am not doing a treatise on the novel--sorry if that comes as a disappointment. Neither will I be critiquing any of the various movie portrayals. Instead, I want to talk about pride and prejudice from a Biblical perspective.

Proverbs 3:34 says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble..." This Scripture is quoted in the New Testament in James 4, which issues a warning against worldliness. In verse six of that chapter, we find not only the reference to Proverbs 3:34 but the odd statement that God "gives us more grace." If you read the verses before this one and after it, in order to get the context, it is clear that we have grace through His Spirit, which dwells in us, but we are able to receive more grace when we humbly follow Him. When we are tempted to just follow the way the world does things, we have an extra measure of grace we can tap into--it becomes available through humility. Therefore, it would seem that pride is really the enemy of grace in our lives.

Instead of elevating God, pride elevates self, and destruction ultimately follows in its wake. That brings us to one of my favorite Scriptures which, interestingly, is in the same passage in Proverbs that talks about "grace to the humble." In verses five and six, it reads: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." I don't know about you, but I'd rather my path be straight than crooked, off-course, dangerous, or unreliable.

If you would call yourself "humble," then chances are you probably have some pride left to deal with. The only way to ensure humility is to continually submit to God. Sometimes in our zeal to serve God, we cross the line into pride--maybe we're not seeking, not listening, or even assuming. We think we know what God approves and doesn't approve of and just how He feels about this or that situation--which leads to how He feels about this or that person--and before we know it, we've crossed the line into prejudice. 

Prejudice is "an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason." Did you catch that last part? Prejudice is unreasonable; a further definition even calls it hostile. Here's where the line gets foggy though--we may think we have full knowledge to judge that circumstance or (though we may not admit it) that person, but the Bible clearly tells us that we only know in part and that how God thinks is entirely different from the way we think. 

Instead of praying for God's blessing, we oppose that person in our spirit--and we feel "righteous" in doing so. The deception is that we are actually being self-righteous because we are operating in the realm of Pride.We need to remember that God is not threatened by someone's lack of compliance with certain "Christian rules." He is not shocked or dismayed by their choices. True--He may have a bigger, better plan for people than what they are currently experiencing, but our job is to love them.

I John 4:20 says, "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen." But wait a minute! I don't hate anyone. Perhaps we should examine our hearts to see if there might just be seeds of hate creeping about. A seed of hate can be disgust, impatience, or even a rolling of the eyes. 

One could argue--wait, aren't we supposed to oppose things that are worldly--the things God has warned us about in the book of James? We are not to be involved in those things, but God never tells us to think of ourselves more highly than others. And we also need to be careful that in looking at the lives of Christian brothers and sisters we are not judging. We are not anyone's judge. That job was left to God. And could that be because His character is perfect and not susceptible to bouts of pride and prejudice?

I John 4:8: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." If we want to know God, be on His path, and receive the additional grace He promises, the key is Love. It is greater than pride or prejudice--it is greater than anything--it is God's very character. Pursue love in all things, and pride and prejudice won't take you off course.