PRIDE

 ACCEPTABLY PROUD?

  Mark (MKJV) 12:28-33 And coming up one of the scribes heard them reasoning, knowing that He had answered them well, he asked Him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment. And the second is like this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to Him, Right, Teacher, according to truth You have spoken, that God is one, and there is no other besides Him. And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love the neighbor as himself, is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.

  1John 2:15-17 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

  Through the years I’ve learned a few things about taking tests. For one thing, getting a C on a test is not the end of life; the goal is not to Ace tests but maturation in ways pleasing to God; don’t slow down for any particular question(s) you can’t immediate answer as doing so builds anxiety and doing so you may not complete test in time allowed; and a BIGGIE: The answer may be in the next question(s) or as your mind is working on several planes, you may in subconscious review realize the answer is in the wording of the puzzling question. (Some test writers incorporate answers deliberately as an extension of learning or wanting class average to be higher. Some incorporate answers without realizing they’re doing so.)

  So it is with “Can we be proud without committing sin of vanity?”

  Going to Scripture I see several applicable points.

1.       Sinful pride has to do with the stuff of self, not God, not others. Mk.12:28-33; 1Jn.2:15-17

2.       Sinful pride is connected to fear, not peace. In Luke 12 note Jesus’ words on the anxious puffery of pride in position and possession, “Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?”

3.       In 1Corinthians chapters 12 & 13 “, the Apostle Paul applied Jesus teaching to the stature conscious children of God “charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,” True godly love is charitable. It is not All-about-me!

4.       A test of true fellowship with God and others is loving obedience to the primary commandments regardless of circumstance.

5.       We are not to be vaingloriously proud of position or possessions, but are to humbly esteem others so long as we’re not doing so vicariously. Am I proud of my child or am I proud because they’re my child? (I later understood why HS teacher Flora Wiley assigned reading MY SON RALPH.)

6.       I see this healthy pride in the Father’s example in saying “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Mt.3:13-17 It could be argued this is different for He is God. But aren’t we to be godly (like Him) in our attitude, word and deed? (Mt.5:48) We can do so if and only when solidly grounded in His Word, including understanding what we are and what we are not.

EBB4