Prideful Words

Chuckle: “Pride is the only disease known to man that makes everyone else sick except the one who has it.”

Quote: “Look out how you use proud words. When you let proud words go, it is not easy to call them back. They wear long boots, hard boots . . . Look out how you use proud words.” –Carl Sandburg

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19 NIV).

Ingrid Bergman, the stage and screen star, said this about proud words: “There is in the words of Carl Sandburg a primary lesson for individuals and classes and nations alike. All too often, we say the cruel and destructive things—because it is so much easier to be clever than to be kind. But in the long run, proud and angry words are the ones which cause trouble in our homes, our communities and among nations.

Proud words are arrogant, intolerant and savagely ignorant of the great fundamental truths—simplicity, humility and ordinary human decency. They are indeed rough-shod, and it is not easy to call them back.”

Our proverbs passage makes it clear that pride can be ruinous in our lives and leads to a disastrous outcome. When we add the words of James to the equation, the danger of a prideful spirit and arrogant and uncontrolled words becomes abundantly clear. “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself himself and his religion is worthless” (James 1:26 NIV).

Pride is a deceitful thing. It deceives the proud person into thinking he is not prideful. We can go through life never recognizing that we have it, and wonder why people react to us the way they do. As a Christian, a regular pride check-up, based on God’s Word, is essential if our words are to be encouraging, uplifting and edifying to those around us. Proud people pay little attention to their weaknesses and are often not aware of stumbling blocks that beset others, because the proud person thinks he or she is above the frailties of other people.

Although those around them may be keenly aware of their pride problem, the prideful person may not even be aware of it. The proud suffer from a distorted self image. They exaggerate their own importance and see others in a lessor light. Such pride feeds condescension, rudeness, and even prejudice, Our proud words are only a symptom of what’s going on in our prideful heart, and the solution is a heart makeover which will be reflected in our words and actions.

Jesus said, “The good man (person) brings good things out of the good stored in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45 NIV).

Love, Jerry & Dotse