Pride is something we all struggle with, and I do not know one single person who is exempt! If you think you don't struggle with pride it is a sure sign you do!
We finished up last time understanding that God opposes the proud and He gives grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5)
The prideful person is self-deceived.
For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Galatians 6:3 (NKJV)
Often prideful people are mistakenly diagnosed with “low self-esteem” because their actions and attitudes appear to be self-depreciating. Low self-esteem is defined as “a person’s belief regarding the degree to which he is worthy of praise.”
The prideful person already thinks very highly of himself or herself! People infected by pride typically think so much of themselves that they believe the world should revolve around them. The only thing important to prideful people is getting their needs filled. It may be an emotional need, a desire for attention, or a resistance to conform to social norms in order to be seen as an individual. Prideful people struggle with bitterness, revenge, conceit, self-pity, a competitive nature, gossip, slander, and vanity. They display a desire to be noticed, which is disguised as shyness. They typically have a lust for attention, approval, and praise. Those who attempt to build them up psychologically only assist them in further self-indulgence.
Prideful women typically have a desire for power and control. They believe that no one can do a certain thing as well as they can, and will exhaust themselves being in leadership positions on numerous committees. They are also never wrong and can produce a list longer than your arm about why they are never wrong.
Prideful people are also very perfectionistic. Everything they are involved in must be done by the book with no variations and "good" is never good enough! They have little tolerance for fallible human beings and their arrogance tends to drive people away. Prideful people are very lonely.
That heart of pride is so focused on "me" and looking good and being perfect that they have no interest in others except to use them to accomplish their goals. When they are denied their way anger is the immediate response.
So what can I do to help a person who I can see is struggling with pride? What do I do if I realize that I am a prideful person?
What is the cure for the prideful heart? Begin by confessing, or admitting, to God that you struggle with the sin of pride. Confession is agreeing with God that what you have done is wrong.
The next step is to begin to practice humility, a denial of self. It is considering others better than yourself and requires an examination through the Word of God of the actions and attitudes of daily life.