A Proud Christian?
Throughout the New Testament epistles believers in Christ are exhorted to put away pride and follow the humility of Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think (12:3). Though reconciled to the Father through saving faith in the Son of God, we as believers become “practical enemies of God” (never again ‘positional enemies’) when we allow pride to reign in our minds and hearts. Thus Peter wrote to young men, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time (1 Pet 5:5-6). As pride is the sure road to destruction, so humility is God’s prescribed road to honor. The supreme illustration of this truth is the life and death of JesusChrist. By virtue of His deliberate self-denunciation Jesus became for us the ultimate example of what it means to possess humility of mind.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:5-8).
The humility of Christ began in His mind. It was a choice involving submission to the Father’s will. He chose to lower Himself—to become less than He really was—in His mind. For deity to become humanity was an act of immeasurable, conscious humiliation. If Jesus did not possess any pride, and He is our supreme example, then pride is incompatible with our calling as followers of Him. In fact it is not only incompatible with our calling, it is diametrically opposed to it. A proud Christian is an oxymoron.
Related post: That Hideous Pride: 26 Ugly Faces
