The Ladder Step 23

Step 23 - On Pride

Pride is a denial of God; reason for Satan’s fall Is 14:12ff; 1 Tim 3:6

“I have seen people who speak aloud their thanks to God but who in their hearts are glorifying themselves” (Pharisee in Lk 18:11)

Markers of Pride:

1. Need for Control “The proud man wants to be in charge of things. He would feel lost otherwise.”

2. Can’t accept criticism. “to reject criticism is to show pride”

3. Argumentative

Dangers of Pride:

1. You become opposed to God. James 4:6 – this word for resist is a battle word meaning that the person’s pride sets himself as an enemy of God.

2. Dimishes virtues developed. St. John “Pride loses the profits of all hard work and sweat.” --nobody gives humility trophies.

3. It cascades into other sins.

Solution:

1. Confession.

2. Lives of the Saints. Reading the lives of the saints help puts our spiritual efforts in perspective. Whatever virtue or ascetic endeavors where we may have found "success", their is another's life who dwarfs our own.

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