Not Letting Pride Guide Me

In review of Philippians 2:3 it says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”

Bottom Line:

Don’t let Selfishness and pride be your guide in life. Value others above yourself.

What this means to me:

I am not to do anything out of a selfish purposes or ambition for myself, nor should I try to impress others. Instead, I am to be humble in all I do, always considering others as better than myself. Every conflict that I go through in relationships will have an element of pride mixed into it. The middle letter of the word “pride” is I. The middle letter of the word “crime” is I. The middle letter of the word “sin” is I. I can have an “I” problem! “I” want what “I” want and “I” want it now, and I don’t want to hurt you, but if you get in my way I will. This kind of attitude will cause problems of all kinds. In any relationship, I should never let pride be my guide, because pride is the root of every other sin. The Bible says in Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (NIV). Paul says that there are two conflict-creating kinds of pride. One of them is selfish ambition and the other is vain conceit. Selfish ambition says, “It’s all about me” and vain conceit means, “I’m always right.” Furthermore, selfish ambition causes all kinds of problems. James 3:16 says, “Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” When I find confusion in relationships, I can know that selfish ambition and jealousy are causing it. I’m learning that vain conceit is the attitude that I am always right. The Living Bible translation of Philippians 2:3 says, “Don’t live to make a good impression on others.” Unfortunately, I can tend to do this in every area of my life. I like getting others approval. Because of this, it’s always a great temptation to make myself look better than I am. In Galatians, Paul lists about 17 effects of living with pride. He says when we live a self-centered life, it shows up in all kinds of ways. He starts off by saying things like self-indulgence shows up in sexual immorality and wild partying and getting drunk. You would expect those things. But most of the things on the list are actually relational sins. Galatians 5:19-21 says, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear ... quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy.... Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (NLT). To be happy in my relationships, I’ll need harmony. And if I’m going to have harmony, I’ll need to have humility. I should never let pride be my guide. In order for me to maintain humility in my relationships, I need to clothe myself with humility each day. In my morning prayer times, I will continue to ask God to help me “put on humility”, and to not think so highly of myself in all I do. I also ask for his help in having my desires be to consider/treat others needs first.