Signs of Pride

I go to Community Bible Study every Thursday morning and this year we've been reading through 1&2 Kings and the minor prophets. It's been very interesting, convicting and reassuring that God's forgiveness and mercy truly are endless! One common theme has been pride - as many of the kings were too proud to recognize God's sovereignty over their kingdoms. In one of the lectures, our director passed out a sheet that listed 36 different signs of pride with scripture references. It's quite extensive, but quite eye-opening as well, so I've been wanting to share it for a while. Some are obvious (#3,7,10,16,19), but some - while it makes complete sense now - I had never before considered to be rooted in pride (#12,13,14,17,36). This is all taken from Stuart Scott's book, From Pride to Humility.

1. Complaining against or passing judgment on God (Num 14:1-4,9,11)
2. Wanting God to operate the way you think He should (Rom 9:20)
3. Boasting or arrogance (1 Sam 2:3)
4. A lack of gratitude (2 Chr 32:25)
5. Anger (Prov 28:25)
6. Forsaking one's responsibilities (Hab 2:5)
7. Selfish (2 Tim 3:2)
8. Quick to fight or quarrel (Gal 5:20)
9. Envy or covetousness (Gal 5:20)
10. Seeing yourself as better than others (Luke 36-50)
11. Having an inflated view of your importance, gifts and abilities (Acts 12:21-23)
12. Being focused on the lack of your gifts and abilities (1 Cor 12:14-25)
13. Perfectionism (Matt 23:24-28)
14. Talking too much (Prov 10:10)
15. Talking too much about yourself (Prov 27:2; Gal 6:3)
16. Seeking independence or control (1 cor 1:10-13; Eph 5:21)
17. Being consumed with what others think (Gal 1:10)
18. Being devastated or angered by criticism (Prov 13:1)
19. Being unteachable (Prov 10:20; John 9:13-34)
20. Being sarcastic, hurtful, or degrading (Prov 12:18,24)
21. A lack of service (Gal 5:13; Eph 2:10)
22. A lack of compassion (Matt 5:7, 18:23-35)
23. Being defensive or blame-shifting (Gen 3:12-13; Prov 12:1)
24. A lack of admitting when you are wrong (Prov 10:17)
25. A lack of asking forgiveness (Matt 5:23-24)
26. A lack of biblical prayer (Luke 18:10-14)
27. Resisting authority or being disrespectful (1 Pet 2:13-17)
28. Voicing preferences or opinions when not asked (Phil 2:1-4)
29. Minimizing your own sin and shortcomings (Matt 7:3-5)
30. Maximizing others' sin and shortcomings (Matt 7:3-5; Luke 18:9-14)
31. Being impatient or irritable with others (Eph 4:21-32)
32. Being jealous or envious (1 Cor 13:4)
33. Using others (Matt 7:12; Phil 2:3-4)
34. Being deceitful by covering up sins, faults and mistakes (Prov 11:3, 28:13)
35. Using attention-getting tactics (1 Pet 3:3,4)
36. Not having close relationships (Prov 18:1-2; Heb 10:24-25)

I don't know exactly why I like this so much, but I do ... maybe it's my love for lists? I think God created my brain to think better in list-form. Lists give me some strange sense of peace. So a list of things to help me avoid being prideful is all the better for me.

While I didn't think anything on this list was necessarily GOOD, knowing that they are at least partially rooted in pride does motivate me a little more to try to avoid them. Of course, this motivation is also partially rooted in my drive for perfectionism (#13), which brings me all the way back to square one. Boo.

PRAISE GOD that salvation is not EARNED but solely given by HIS GRACE or I'd be a lost cause!!!