Pride: Misplaced Confidence

This Sunday we take on the first, and according to Thomas Aquinas and many others, the worst of the 7 deadly sins. I introduced the message with a clip from the film “Shenandoah”, starring my all-time favorite actor, Jimmy Stewart. Set in Virginia during the Civil War, Stewart plays the patriarch of a large family attempting to sit out the war going on all around their farm. The clip occurs near the beginning of the film when Stewart offers the most ungrateful prayer at the dinner table. You can see it @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzzyZ1M-kVU . Charlie Anderson is not a man of faith. If you haven’t seen the 1965 classic it is definitely worth a rental, the ending is good.

In preparing this message I found C.S. Lewis’ chapter on pride in his book Mere Christianity to be very helpful. He identifies what sinful pride is not. It is not pleasure in being praised. I often feel awkward when I’m praised by others. The truth is that I know the one praising me is grossly overestimating my good qualities. But we all enjoy genuine and truthful praise. Lewis says, “The saved soul to whom Christ says, “Well done” is pleased and ought to be.” The problem is in the person who lives for the applause of others and will do virtually anything to get it.

Lewis also insists that sinful pride is not “warm-hearted admiration for another.” For example, it is not sinful for a father to be proud of his son. Lewis writes, “To love & admire anything outside yourself is to take one step away from utter spiritual ruin; though we shall not be well so long as we love and admire anything more than we love and admire God.” The problem is when we take a precious gift of God, like a son or daughter, and elevate that gift in our hearts above God.

Spiritual pride is difficult to detect in ourselves and even more difficult to deal with when detected. In the message I offered an assignment based on Rebecca DeYoung’s statement in her book, Glittering Vices. She suggests 2 spiritual disciplines in the battle against vainglory & pride: silence & solitude. “In silence,” she writes, “we can recognize our anxious need to create an approving audience for ourselves, and the discipline of solitude removes the audience.”

Here’s the assignment:

1. For an entire day don’t talk about yourself… AT ALL!

No stories about you, no sharing your feelings or opinions. Then reflect on how much effort you devote to calling attention to yourself to win the approval of others.

2. Help someone this week

Any act of service will do except for giving someone money. This is about giving your time & energy. Here’s the catch: do it secretly! Don’t tell ANYONE!

3. Memorize the sinner’s prayer and meditate on it daily this week: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Let me know how the assignment goes this week, especially that part about not talking about yourself for an entire day. That reminds me of a story about myself… wait… never mind.
Blessing: (Phil 2:3) “May you ‘do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.’ Amen.”