On the heels of Philemon, I read another small book the other day, the account of the prophet Obadiah.
Mostly, what struck me as I was reading it was what the chapter conveyed about pride and why it's a sin. I find it very unfortunate and dangerous that pride as a sin is often misunderstood. How is it misunderstood? Well, because it seems that non-Christians often have this view of God as someone who never wants you to be happy with yourself: who, if He could, would go back in time and not create Man in the first place; that we are loathsome creatures and He ought not to have even thought of creating such filth. He's a God who never wants you to be happy and always wants you to remember how terrible you are.
This is, of course, completely wrong. But hey, it sounds good if you're going to blast Christianity. (As an aside, that's how you always make your case against something: position it as being something it doesn't come close to being, then rail against it. In the minds of atheists, that's how to prove God doesn't exist: create in your mind an idea of what you feel God should be, then talk about how He doesn't meet these expectations you just made up. Brilliant!) The truth: God wants us to be happy. He wants us to be joyful, elated, ecstatic. But, more than wanting us to be happy, He wants what's best for us.
Now, feeling good about ourselves is important for our self-esteem and general well-being. I'm fairly certain that God wants us to feel a sense of accomplishment and worth. But here's the kicker: He knows more than we do. Being the God of the Universe, He knows that a sense of worth and accomplishment is important, but what's more important is knowing who you are: of knowing your limits as a human. Here in Obadiah we read:
Now, feeling good about ourselves is important for our self-esteem and general well-being. I'm fairly certain that God wants us to feel a sense of accomplishment and worth. But here's the kicker: He knows more than we do. Being the God of the Universe, He knows that a sense of worth and accomplishment is important, but what's more important is knowing who you are: of knowing your limits as a human. Here in Obadiah we read:
"The pride of your heart has deceived you... you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?' "
Why is pride a sin? Because it deceives us into thinking that we're better/stronger/faster/wiser than we actually are. It deceives us into thinking that, perhaps, God isn't necessary after all. The Israelites were constantly running into this problem: God blesses them, they attribute their blessings to themselves, they start to think they don't need God, they act as if they don't need God, God shows them that they do need Him after all, and that all the success was only because of Him in the first place. Then they realize how much they do need God and they repent. The rest of Obadiah mentions other aspects in which too much of something that was intended to be good instead turns into something bad. (Justice is good, revenge is bad; victory is good, boasting is bad. C.S. Lewis talks about this often in his works.)
Confidence is a good thing. Self-worth is a good thing. But too much of these things turns into something that isn't confidence and isn't self-worth: it becomes pride in oneself that begins to think that God is not necessary for survival. Let us strive to learn the lessons explained so clearly throughout the Bible: He is.
Reading Obadiah was one thing, seeing the principle acted out in my life is another. The other night I was driving back from church to my apartment and the roads were terrible. For some reason, the plows hadn't been out, so it took me at least half-again as long to get back than it should have. I had to go very slowly, and came across two people in ditches. About halfway back here, the road was much better. The problem came when the opposite traffic flew by me going at full speed. Several cars and trucks, without too much distance between them, barreled right past me, not knowing that about a hundred yards in front of them the roads were going to change drastically and, if they didn't slow down now, they'd probably get in an accident. ...I flashed my bright lights at them, but I'm not sure if they took any sort of caution.
Since I haven't heard of a six-car pile-up, I'm assuming they made it safely to wherever they were going. But all I could think about as I was passing them was, "Hey! You don't understand! You think you'll be able to handle it, but you can't! If only you knew what you don't know!" .......that's what pride is. As another great cultural reference teaches us as well: our overconfidence in ourselves deceives us, and lures us into thinking we don't need God.
We do.
Confidence is a good thing. Self-worth is a good thing. But too much of these things turns into something that isn't confidence and isn't self-worth: it becomes pride in oneself that begins to think that God is not necessary for survival. Let us strive to learn the lessons explained so clearly throughout the Bible: He is.
Reading Obadiah was one thing, seeing the principle acted out in my life is another. The other night I was driving back from church to my apartment and the roads were terrible. For some reason, the plows hadn't been out, so it took me at least half-again as long to get back than it should have. I had to go very slowly, and came across two people in ditches. About halfway back here, the road was much better. The problem came when the opposite traffic flew by me going at full speed. Several cars and trucks, without too much distance between them, barreled right past me, not knowing that about a hundred yards in front of them the roads were going to change drastically and, if they didn't slow down now, they'd probably get in an accident. ...I flashed my bright lights at them, but I'm not sure if they took any sort of caution.
Since I haven't heard of a six-car pile-up, I'm assuming they made it safely to wherever they were going. But all I could think about as I was passing them was, "Hey! You don't understand! You think you'll be able to handle it, but you can't! If only you knew what you don't know!" .......that's what pride is. As another great cultural reference teaches us as well: our overconfidence in ourselves deceives us, and lures us into thinking we don't need God.
We do.
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