This Pride Sets You Apart from the Crowd

Generally, pride sucks. Aside from being dead weight, it's invisible rust that eats at your character like gangrene without you realizing it, until it's too late and you don't know what ate you up. Pride often denies it's there and masks itself as humility--disguised humility that's humbler than real humility itself. But I cannot advice you to get rid of pride totally.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: www.pexels.com

Why?

In real life, you need to be proud of something. GOD designed it that way. And especially so if you're a genuine non-joiner. Non-joiners are proud people but it's not the kind of pride that denies it's presence, like it never existed in you, masquerading as humility. Non-joiner's pride is the kind that boasts of something or someone outside itself. Carnal pride is selfish or self-centered. Non-joiners' pride is selfless. It boasts of others.

Selfless pride gives the following advantages.

1. It points away from you. In fact, it keeps you a great distance from the object of pride. It hides you somewhere in the remote backgrounds or in dimly lit corners. The advantage is, you remain anonymous while being so loud and proud. You're kept safe from conceit.
2. You enjoy peace and quiet while fulfilling a basic emotional need God put in all of us--pride. Self-centered pride can never be satiated so you struggle to stay in the center of everything, even steal others' limelight or moments. But selfless pride need not feed the self or ego because it's selfless or egoless, yet emotionally fulfilling. It's not just less ego but zero ego.
3. It's extremely rewarding now and will be rewarded more in the future.
4. It sets you apart from the crowd. The crowd hates this pride.
5. GOD approves of it.

Jeremiah's Pride

Yup, you heard it right. GOD approves of this pride. He himself said it to his prophet Jeremiah. GOD wants you to have pride. Thus, Jeremiah was proud. Pride fulfills life. 

...but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. [Jeremiah 9.24]

God "delights" in this pride--pride in the "understanding to know me, that I am the Lord." What kind of understanding? The pride of knowing that he "exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth." Anyone who likes to be proud should take pride in this, says the Lord. 

Kindness is the riches of his grace. It closely relates to God's justice. God is just so he judges us fairly, and fairly means we all should go to hell. Our kind acts are filthy rags to him. Our religions are garbage. But because of his kindness, he declares us righteous if we believe and fully surrender our lives to Jesus. All of us should boast about this all our lives.

...in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. [Ephesians 2/7]

Paul's Pride

When Apostle Paul discovered how all his achievements were garbage (I fervently wish we all discover this, too), he became proud in treating them all garbage and throwing them out. And he took triple pride in this: 

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. [Philippians 3]

Unless we finally learn that all our human efforts and achievements are garbage, we will never gain Christ. What counts is God's effort in us alone. No wonder many churches still don't have Christ despite their imagined accomplishments. And here's Paul's triple pride:

10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

How do you know you're proud of Jesus and not of yourself? Simple. If that pride keeps you farther back and lost in the background, that's selfless pride for Jesus. But if it keeps you in the limelight, it's idolatrous self-pride---unless it's God who keeps you there, making you shine, not as a superstar, but as lead man in the procession of fools for him.

9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10 We are fools for Christ...

[1 Corinthians 4]

Be Proud in Christ

Meekness is really boasting in the Lord--and making sure nothing of the boasts spills over to you--unless the Holy Spirit does it, like how the Son was glorified so he could glorify the Father. “

Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. [John 17]

Jesus knew that he couldn't glorify himself. It had to be the Father--and understandably the Holy Spirit--doing it. If that's the case with Jesus---the SON---how much more us? When we glorify Jesus and boast of him, God often takes us to where we are least obvious. And believe it or not, being least and low-profile is genuine glory. When HE puts us where our ego dies--unnoticed, persecuted, ill treated, belittled and sometimes even suffering lack--the Father is glorifying us so we can glorify the Son who glorifies the Father. Only the cross can achieve true glory.

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” [1 Corinthians 1]

The Pride God Hates

Just remember, watch out that you do not have the "pride of life," which means pride in what you have and can do--pride in your human efforts and accomplishments. Even pride in your local church or denomination. Don't be misled to attribute glory to man's church. 

For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. [1 John 2.16]

Here's a more revealing version: 

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. [NLT]