Who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?!
Seriously…who do you think you are? How do you view yourself?
Pride according to the dictionary is a group of lions that form a social unit. That’s one of the definitions at least. A biblical definition of pride is of course, much better. It is putting yourself above your place. It is exalting yourself before God and over others.
I have a friend named Jim who owns a hunting dog named Remy. Remy is somewhat trained and she is living out her calling in life as a tracker and retriever. However, Remy sometimes thinks she is more. When my friends and I would visit, Remy would start spazzing out. She would run around the living room, beg for our dinner, jump on the couch, and worst of all, lick our shins. It was chaos! That is, until Jim would sternly command Remy, “Go to your place!”. Ears back and demoralized Remy would then have to return to the floor and lay in her predesignated spot. Talk about getting “put in your place”. The issue here is that Remy is a trained dog that for a short period of time had the audacity to think she was more. Just who does she think she is?
In the same way, we as people put ourselves above our place. We see ourselves as greater than what we are.
Very few people in society today claim to be God. Usually, it’s only lunatics. However, many act as if they are. Society pushes us to glorify and love ourselves. It is considered honorable to love yourself. Self-exaltation is not just accepted, but preached.
It's not just the outside world that is proud, it’s everyone, even the high schooler at the Revolution, even myself. Our pride manifests itself in many ways. It can be trusting in yourself over God’s promises. It’s living for yourself rather than submitting to God. A proud person is self-consumed. What’s on your socials? Pride is not listening to your parents, nor heeding the warnings in Scripture. Prideful people don’t see their need for prayer or God’s word.
So, who do you think you are? Do you see yourself rightly? Where do you see pride in your life?
The Bible gives a clear description of God’s posture towards pride. What does He think when He sees His creation stealing His deserved glory, boasting in themselves, trusting in themselves, and living for themselves?
He detests it! Look at the passages below.
1 Peter 5:5b - “God is opposed to the proud”
Proverbs 16:5 - “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Be assured, he will not go unpunished.”
Isaiah 2:12 -
“For the LORD of armies will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is arrogant and haughty
And against everyone who is lifted up
That he may be brought low”
An “abomination”, a “day of reckoning”, this is strong language, and it is clear what God thinks of those who think too highly of themselves. Like Remy the dog, we must put ourselves back in our place or our Master will do it for us.
1 Peter 5:6a “Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God”
Here are 3 ways humble yourself:
1st – Knowledge of God
I have a hot take. We landed on the moon in 1969. I’m not afraid of the conspiracy theorists. The first man on the moon was Neil Armstrong and during his trip he gained a little perspective. He tells the story of how he looked back towards the Earth and noticed how tiny it was. He held his thumb out in front of his face, and his thumb blotted out the entire world. He said it made him feel “very, very, small”.
He gained perspective by going out and seeing how small our little planet is in the vast universe. We must gain perspective by seeing how awesome our God is. One cannot help but be humbled when they look at something or someone so much greater than them. Who can puff out their chest before the Almighty God?
Open your Bible, dive in to who God is and get some perspective.
2nd – Love for Others
We must rightfully put God first, but additionally, God also commands us to put others above ourselves (Phil. 2:3). Congratulations you got the bronze, third place!
There are many ways that we elevate ourselves over another. When we boast, we lift ourselves over others. When we gossip, we put another down to lift ourselves up. Remember your place…third place. Think about it, are you concerned for others or consumed with yourself? Make it your mission to love and serve another person this week.
Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
3rd – Remembering Christ
God himself humbled himself.
Philippians 2 tells us that although Jesus is God, he emptied himself, and took the form of a slave, not only a slave, but a slave destined for death on a cross. This is the ultimate example of humility. The one who indisputably deserves all glory, set it aside to die like a criminal. Christ humbled himself so you can be saved!
Therefore, there is no reason you shouldn’t return to your proper place, in full submission to God, and service to others.
Max Maitland
Senior Boys Small Group Leader
