John and Lucy are two good, young friends, they were walking home after they just concluded their Speech and Prize giving day in their school, John came in 2nd Position in his class and was awarded a gift which he was so happy about. On their way home, Lucy, who loves the gift, was holding it as they walked, this pulled the attention of people when they saw the gift in her hands, thinking that it was awarded to Lucy. So, they were congratulating her on her 2nd position in school. John never reacted in the open but felt despised in his heart.
When John reached home, he narrated that scenario to his mum, angrily insisting that he will return to those applauders to convince them that the gift belongs to him. His mum being a wise, godly woman, calmly congratulated him and also dissuaded him from taking such action because it is an act of pride. John agreed and no longer felt inferior.
One lesson to learn from this story is that the journey to pride is exhaustive and blinding. John was a little boy, so he wanted to prove to everyone that he was the brilliant one. So, it is in our present-day world. Many employers feel intimidated by the performance of their employees and so they tend to slight them, unaware of the fact that the same glory is being accorded to them if they had encouraged the employees. Pride is a blindfold because it makes one abandon his God-given purpose by trying to outdo another. Let’s not forget what was recorded in the Bible, Pride goes before fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction (Proverbs 16:18).
Another side of it, is that pride leads to a control of ideas and efforts since it gives no room for others to add to the developmental process of any venture or organization.
Pride is full of itself and what it possesses; it does not consider greater things to be achieved – greater heights to be attained. For a proud man, all decisions center on him (selfishness). He never wants to get other people’s advice as he delights in cutting others out. He may go as far as keeping God aside, thereby Edging God out (EGO) in his pursuit for success and glory. As a result, he looses opportunities for the bigger picture.
There are many signs that shows that one is prideful:
- When you are uncomfortable with the good success of your colleagues
- When you are unteachable
- When you cannot be corrected, but love to correct others
- When you do not take advice from others
- When you have difficulty making apologies and admitting your faults
- When you always want to be served, but unwilling to serve others…
And many more…
No man is an island, we all need each other. Even in government, there are divisions of responsibility to make things work. The President cannot be in all places at ll times, he assigns, appoints and delegates jurisdiction to others.
One will chase a thousand but two will chase ten thousand, that’s the plan of God for us all when we embrace the help and support of others, we get an exponential increase. Anyone who lives and operates in isolation dies unnoticed, because he has distanced himself from external influences and supports.
Pride is self-exaltation, but humility and service are a pathway to divine exaltation because God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud (James 4:6).
The blindfold of pride is that it makes you think you are making progress but in the real sense, it’s all deterioration because a proud man gives no room for improvement; it promises you foresight and a future but you are not making headway. We are in a world system where we fight for all kind of ‘rights’, thereby loosing our true positions in life, marriage, society, gender related, Church, politics and several other facets. All these have reduced many to a piece of garbage because we have edged God Out of the full picture.
Let’s make room in our hearts to learn like the Master of all times – Jesus Christ, who in all His glory never took it for a thing to boast about but took the form of a servant for the sake of the prideful human system. Little wonder God has highly exalted Him to the point that He still maintains an eternal relevance in all things. He never lived above His disciples while on earth, they were all like brothers. Because He served, we ought to serve one another and be like Him in all aspects.
To conclude the beginning story, after many years, John lived to become very successful because he tore the veil of pride and instead, placed others before himself, he still lives to empower others and to raise leaders within his spheres of influence.
Tear that, veil!
The Lead Like Jesus 6-Week Study Guide will help you dig deeper into pride.Â
Michael Okuneye is a certified Facilitator with Lead like Jesus and also the African Representative. Experienced with missions and leadership matters since 1993. He is the Executive Director of Livingword Global leadership Mission; served as a missionary in Niger, Chad and in Nigeria where he resides, training Church Planters and Community Champions to build stronger and transformational churches in Africa. Having raised and trained many leaders in several nations, it has given him the voice in Leadership matters in Nigeria. He served as the Assistant to the National director of Bible league in Chad, later rose to National Head of Operations of Bible League Nigeria before proceeding to advance the course of Leadership and Mission. He is currently the Coordinator of the Teens Church in his local assembly where he raises leaders. As a great motivator, he has encouraged many, coupled with his unique approach to coaching and mentoring lives in diverse fields of specialization, more than 10,000 lives have been affected by his leadership. He is also championing the cause of community development in rural areas for positive changes. He is married to Titilope his best friend and they are blessed with five boys.
