We are a prideful people. Ever since Genesis 3 when the first man and woman ate the fruit from the tree, thinking they could be like God, we have been filled with pride for ourselves.

Pride is defined as, “a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.” There are two kinds of pride: one kind is a sense of accomplishment in a job well done, and the other is being full of ourselves and giving ourselves more glory than we give God. Which do you most often fall into?

If we’re truly honest with ourselves, I’d guess that we’re more likely to lean toward the pride of giving ourselves more glory than God. We are broken in how we give God glory.

When we really stop and think about it, everything in our lives comes from God; we simply exist solely because of God! Yes, it’s great that I can use language to form thoughts and words and communicate them to you in this blog post, but none of that is possible without God. Everything we do is only possible because God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). I may excel at something, but those abilities are only part of me because God designed me that way, to use those abilities for His glory.

We see many warnings in the Bible against being prideful or full of ourselves. Check out Proverbs 11:2, Proverbs 16:18-19, Galatians 6:3, 1 John 2:16, Philippians 2:3-4, or Romans 12:16, just to name a few. Clearly, we need to be warned against this form of brokenness, since we just keep doing it!

But when we desire to remove something negative from our lives, the best way to do that is to replace it with something positive. In this case, our prideful feelings should be replaced with glorifying and honoring God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” The context of that verse is Paul explaining to the people in Corinth that it’s not the issue of whether you do this thing or that thing, but that the attitude with which you do it should be one in which you seek to build up others and give God the glory, rather than simply serving your own self-interests.

We are broken in our pridefulness and in our lack of giving glory to the One who truly deserves all glory.

Let our prayer today be that of King David:

“Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever” (Psalm 86:11-12). Amen.