Pride, Patience & Humility

Spirituality Column #33
June 26, 2007
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper

Pride, Patience and Humilty
By Bob Walters

I hate to admit it, but I know more about pride than patience or humility.

That's exactly the reverse of what Christ tells us about living a Godly life.

As our perfect example, Christ is without pride, has unlimited patience and lived on this earth in total humility.

The Bible gives us many standards for a faith-based, Godly life:

Abide in Christ. Be humble. Serve the Lord. Have faith. Love one another.

Pride means we are trusting our self instead of God, and therefore very likely bearing a burden or anxiety – unnecessarily – that Christ’s death has already removed.

Patience means we are trusting the Lord; and truly trusting in the Lord means you’ll never have a problem with pride or fear or doubt because you know that God, not you, is in control and you trust Him totally. (That’s a really tough one.)

Humility means you don’t worry about yourself; you worry only about God’s will.

This is gibberish to a non-believer, I realize. Christians – because Christ the perfect God / perfect man is eternally interceding with God – believe God is in control of their individual lives. “God is in control” is an especially tough truth when you or a loved one is hurting. Or even if you’re just impatient.

Pride is the king of sins because we strongly pursue our self interest instead of God’s commands. That’s what happened in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) when Adam and Eve were tempted to doubt God’s goodness.

Impatience is my personal specialty, because when I see something I want …

Uh, good time to bring up humility – what “I want” isn’t important. How can I figure out what God wants?

Reading the Bible, asking God in prayer, and then listening for His voice, is a great place to start.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), a Carmel resident, reads Philippians 4:4-7 every day. Also, see Galatians 5:22-23.