Agape Love - Set Aside the Pride

I hate asking for help, but then get frustrated when no one helps me accomplish something that should be a team effort. I hate asking for help because I feel like every piece of me is weak and it shows hard. Asking for help would be the next level of weakness, and I feel this way because of a dangerous thing called pride. I'm too prideful to say I need an extra buck to get somewhere, or that I need help moving something, or even that I need a prayer. Pride not only deprives me the opportunity to practice humility, but it deprives someone else the opportunity to bless and offer a helping hand.
The time I went through open chest surgery after my daughter was born was humbling for me, yet so frustrating, because of pride. I hated having to be with someone every minute when I came home from the hospital. I hated that I didn't have energy to cook or clean (let's be honest, I still don't!!), and I hated not being able to care for my new daughter without people "checking in". It was a pride issue.
On the flip side, there is a pride from those who think they deserve things to be handed to them. Rather than wanting to lend a hand, they hold their hand out looking for someone to place a "blessing" in it, over, and over, and over, so much so that they don't know how to fend for themselves in life, and pride essentially destroys them.

I have always believed that humility is the most powerful position you can take. It seems like an oxymoron, but there is a deeper understanding when you can take a knee in humility when dealing with people. Pride is the opposite of this position. There is a place of vulnerability that can either be crushed by a person's pride, or affirmed by a person's humility.
Love is humble, not prideful.
Pride has no time of day for anything by oneself. Love gives time freely.
Pride can't see past self. Love sees every opportunity to lend anything they can offer.
Pride is a root of selfishness. Love is selfless.
Pride hardens. Love softens.

There are verses and verses throughout God's word that would tell you how dangerous pride is, and in this case, pride is not an intentional way to pursue agape. It destroys agape because it encompasses every piece of it and makes it negative.
Pride is not patient. Pride is not kind. Pride boasts. Pride is envious...it fits. Pride seems to be the root of the problem in many cases, yet humility and love seem to be the solution.

So how do we strive for humility and try to wipe off pride?

Believe you don't have to be the most intelligent, strongest, and better to do what you are called to do. I think we fall into the pride trap when we believe we are the best, which is never true. The truth is someone else is always better, stronger, and more intelligent. Know that God is the most at everything. He created you with your gifts and He knows you better than you know yourself.

"You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, "you did not make me?" Can the pot say to the potter, "you know nothing?" - Isaiah 29:16

Conquer pride by remembering Who made you and where your role is in that.

Secondly, keep yourself in check. When you start thinking you are indispensable, or better than someone else, or that your accomplishments entitle you, stop. Remember that the ultimate judge is God. Nothing in this world matters beyond eternity.

"For by grace given me I say to every one of you: Do you think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith Go has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us..." -Romans 12:3-6a

Conquer pride by remembering that God gave each of us unique gifts and that we are all serving the same purpose as ONE. None of us is better than the other, but God is our greatest pursuit.

Admit your wrongs. When you mess up, confess it. Bring it before God and be sure to say "sorry" to the people you wronged. Saying sorry is probably the most humbling thing you can do in a hot-button, prideful world. I have come to learn that people who won't say "sorry" are the ones who will ditch you under the bus just to keep themselves looking good. Don't be that person. Life's too short to carry around our wrongs, even if you don't think you're wrong. Consider the "what if I am wrong?"

Pride is something that starts very small, but then grows and grows until it's all about you. It may start with an achievement, a reward, but eventually turn into every conversation turning back to your achievements, your qualifications, your experiences, to the point of never wanting to admit you need help. Or that you are wrong. Or that your achievements aren't yours. Keep pride in check and stay humble.

Scripture to Read:
Romans 12:3-6a, Isaiah 29:16

Questions to Ponder:
Where do you struggle in the area of pride?
Which one of the steps can you work on this week to conquer the pride that threatens to come forth from you?
What is something God has done in your life that is truly amazing?