I recently had pride well up inside of me. I will explain in a moment. But first, let’s look at pride and what causes it. Pride is defined as an excessive love of one’s excellence and a serious sin. The sin of pride is a heart attitude expressed in an unhealthy, exaggerated attention to self and an elevated view of one’s abilities, accomplishments, position, or possessions. Pride has been called “the cancer of the soul, “the beginning of all sin,”. It generates other sins and immoral behavior. Humble humility is one of the greatest defenses against pride. Get this, it is considered rebellion against God!! OUCH! The reason for that is pride presumes to possess excellence and glory that can only belong to God alone.
Pride is the direct opposite of humility, a trait that is highly praised and rewarded by God. Pride is when we self-elevate ourselves above others. Charles H. Spurgeon described pride as “an all-pervading sin.” He said, “Pride is so natural to fallen man that it springs up in his heart like weeds in a well-watered garden … its every touch is evil. You may hunt down this fox, and think you have destroyed it, and lo! Your very exultation is pride. None have more pride than those who dream that they have none. Pride is a sin with a thousand lives; it seems impossible to kill it.”
Ok, back to pride rising in me the other day. I recently had the opportunity to speak at a Men’s Encounter weekend. I spoke about the relationship or lack of a relationship between Fathers and Children. Part of what I shared was my broken relationship with my 38-year-old daughter, Kelsey, who lives in California. I had left her with her mom at age 14 when I moved to Arkansas. She has been angry at me for over 30 years because of that move. She had recently invited me to come to California for two weeks and stay with her and her husband Victor along with my newest grandbaby, Olive. It was a huge step toward reconciliation for us.
After I spoke, the Holy Spirit began to move in the hearts of some men there. I was unaware of this at the time. About a week or so later I got a call from my friend Chuck Trantham. He told me that some men from Encounter had wanted to provide airline miles, hotel rooms, and money for the trip to see my daughter Kelsey! They wanted to humbly help this old man make this trip. These dads knew how important this trip would be.
Enter PRIDE in me……I said, ”No, Chuck, no, I appreciate that so much and it is very touching to hear that but I don’t need money or help. I can do this without that. I have a nice car. I don’t need them to do anything for me.” Chuck answered, “ So you are going to let your pride steal this blessing from God and His blessing for these men? Jim, don’t do that! These men were led by God to do this, allow them this blessing.”
For me, that was hard to do because of the sin of pride in my life. It became very evident to me after that conversation, that I have work to do on this sin that has engulfed me. I asked God to remove that sin and give me a humble spirit.
Chuck called me a week later and said, “Jim, through these guys, God has blessed your trip to CA. I have a check here in the amount of $2,000.! Also, your hotels to and from CA are covered by another guy. In addition, one of the guys from Encounter wants to go with you and help drive! He will visit his family while you visit Kelsey and her family. I will send this check out tomorrow.”
I was overwhelmed with gratitude and awe at how God works in mysterious ways all around us to put His plan into action, not ours. His plan is always the best. Thank you, God. Thank you, Chuck. Thank you, men, whoever you are, even though you want to remain anonymous, I love you and I am humbled to accept this love gift from you. May God bless you in abundance for this amazing gift.
I love you all.
Jim Everett
