2 Samuel 22:28 You save the humble, but Your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.

Pride is a major disqualifier for a disciple. This verse calls to mind Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, where He said a number of things that go against normal human expectations. The rest of this passage (26-37 – the whole chapter is repeated as Psalm 18) speaks of some of the blessings of following God, but anyone wanting to enjoy them must remember that they come only from God. This goes double for anyone wanting to make disciples, because if we succeed in making them our disciples without making them Christ’s disciples, we’ve not only not done them good, we’ve done them grave harm. Jesus gave a rather pithy description of that sort of thing in Matthew 23:15. Pride is simply asking to be brought down. As it says in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” English doesn’t distinguish particularly among different types of pride, whereas Japanese does. Being proud of your children, for example, isn’t the same as being haughty (to use the word from Proverbs). Satisfaction in a job well done, for example, if it includes recognition that God was the one who gave the ability and made it possible, is certainly not condemned in the Bible. However, conceit and pride of position (others are inferior because they aren’t me) are uniformly condemned. Submission and obedience are prime characteristics of a disciple.

I’ve certainly had my troubles with this one! From experience, I can say that conceit is often rooted in inferiority. I used to put people down for not having my intellect because I was so painfully aware of being inferior in sports. Frankly, that benefited no one, and least of all me. Conceit and self-hatred alike ignore God. He is the one who says we are worth dying for! The more we understand God’s love, the more we understand the value of every human being, but pride puts up a wall against that love. I live in a culture that demonizes conceit, but in the process forbids parents from praising their children, husbands and wives from praising each other. That is as much a distortion of God’s plan as the American tendency to puff yourself up. I need God’s wisdom and grace to help people of all cultures break free of their cultural mind traps in order to see themselves and others as God does. We have several cultures represented in this church, and each has its strong and weak points, I need, we need, to focus on being Christ’s disciples, Kingdom citizens, learning and expressing Kingdom culture, with no pride (conceit) but great gratitude.

Father, it’s difficult to write what You are showing me, because words get in the way. Help me be an open channel so that Your Spirit may communicate Your truth through me in ways that people can receive it and be set free, according to Your Word and not my words, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!