Pride

Frank Lloyd Wright and Michael Jackson are complete opposites. Mr. Wright was one of America’s greatest architects creating such masterpieces as Falling Waters, The Guggenheim Museum, and spurring modern architecture like none other. Mr. Jackson is or was, depending on the interviewee, a pop icon and one of the greatest musicians of all times. Both of these men were great and they knew of their greatness in their respected worlds. In an interview in the 1950’s, Mr. Wright arrogantly said he was immortal. Mr. Jackson had told his mother at a young age that his popularity will rival God’s. These are two of the many examples, including myself that I can collect as I ponder this topic. What causes these people to be this way? What causes people to be great?
If one is around me enough, or knows me well, one will find out my greatest struggle is pride: in my accomplishments, my past and my future. I even take pride in my shortcomings. My greatest battles are with my own desire to be great, to be well known and to be “the best thing since sliced bread.” Why do I struggle with this? Is this not the same thing Michael Jackson and Frank Lloyd Wright both exhibited?
Christians are funny when it comes to pride. Hundreds of books have been written on lust, fulfilling or finding your spiritual gifts and many other topics, but no one wants to write on pride, or the opposite thereof--humility. We would rather talk negative about ourselves, despise our greatness and as the monks of old, whip ourselves and put ourselves down because of our own depravity.
In my life I have found that I am completely enable to live this life God has called me to live apart from Him. He has chosen me for a purpose and this takes a great amount of faith and trust. Yet in this incapability, my humanity and capabilities still are great. Our human nature is not pathetic, weak and anemic, but a great potential. We have the choice to choose each day “whom we shall serve,” to “take up our cross and follow Him,” and to “resist the devil and draw near to Him.”
My struggle with pride is continuing till this day. In this struggle I have found myself seeking humility like a new person I am to meet in a crowded place. I may have a description of that person, but with the many distractions around, the person is hard to find. The more details I have of that person, the more I know that person and the more I meet that person, the easier it is to find them. Humility is as elusive as my God.
This point is the crux of the matter, the down fall of my denouement. Humility is never a thing to be grasped much like love is never a character that will be perfected and God will never be fully known. If I want humility—as well as any other character quality of God’s—I must first seek Him. It is God alone that is the source of all hope, love and true humility. I, as well as any Christian, cannot solve this problem on my own (my own depravity), but I can make a choice to seek Him (my own greatness).
I am not great because of my accomplishments, my job, my education or my family. I am great because I know and can know God. Yet, this fact is paradoxical because the fact that makes me great also humbles me greatly. In this seeking of Him, my greatness is truly and everlastingly great. This fact simply blows me away. Because I know God and have been enlighten to the fact that He loves me, I can choose to follow Him, seek Him and enter into His presence. Do you seek Him? Do you want to know Him? How are you using your greatness? You are not a pathetic being if you know Jesus Christ. You are a child of the Most High God. This world is too short to be selfish and He is too awful to resist.