In the Lord’s estimation, true excellence is not achieved via physical prowess, social clout, or other petty trophies. The path to this quality is through modesty. An individual’s pride stems from feelings of inadequacy, uncertainty, and anxiety. Those who are proud often experience feelings of insignificance, neglect, insecurity, powerlessness, and isolation. Prideful people try to conceal their insecurities by projecting an image of flawless assurance and engaging in attention-grabbing antics.
The Causes of Pride That Prevent Us From Reaching Humility
There is no cause to be terrified if you discover that you are proud. Arrogant people have no idea how strong, brilliant, and compassionate they truly are. You would not need to fake if you fully harnessed your inner strength. Humbleness results from addressing inner anxieties and worries, which we may address by overcoming pride, which we’ll explore below.
Fear of being humble.
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)
To be successful, we require the assistance and encouragement of other people. Pride prevents us from accepting support from others simply because we believe we can handle things on our own. Additionally, we could be too humiliated to admit to another person that we require support and too proud to accept that assistance.
Allow yourselves to be humble and embrace the support that is being offered. Have faith in the fact that the people in your support network wish to be able to assist you to the best of their abilities. Suppose you do not have a network of support. In that case, trained professionals such as therapists, advisors, clergy persons, and others can help you with your feelings, connections, faith, or profession. You should not worry about the future since you will one day be able to assist others in overcoming your current challenges.
You may be operating from a place of false modesty if you do any or all of the following: you intentionally attempt to persuade individuals that you’re humble, you feel the urge secure authority or control, you tell the world how humble you are, you compare your standard of humbleness to the perspective of others, you criticize others who are self – assured, you hold onto envy, you judge others, and you have indications of self-hatred.
Anxiety about vulnerability.
When someone is vulnerable, they are susceptible to being hurt in some way, whether physically or psychologically.
If you truly desire to be humble, try not to think about what others will think of you. We postpone seeking assistance or being authentic because we fear others will judge or use our vulnerabilities against us. We can worry that they will exploit us, make fun of us, or abuse us.
In the end, humble humans don’t worry about what other people think of them (since their viewpoint isn’t accurate). There will be moments when you just have to let go of your worries about what other people will think of you. The fact is that God favors the modest, kind individual who strives to live a life of integrity in all that he does.
You can guarantee that when Noah was constructing the ark in the days before the flood, people openly laughed at him. Even to modern eyes, the ark that Noah spent a century constructing is absurd. Thankfully, trusting God in difficult times helps us grow in humility and self-awareness.
Throughout this period, God will encourage you to put your faith in him rather than in the criticism of everyone else. Your adversaries will be exposed and their dignity restored by him. Let them finish their path before you pass judgment. Trust that God will be with you as you try to become truly humble.
“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12)
Self-esteem issues.
“For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Galatians 6:3)
Self-hatred, humiliation, worthlessness, remorse, and inadequacies are hidden under the masks of pride and arrogance we wear. Putting on the mask allows one to present an idealized image to the outside world. The objective is to persuade everyone that you are flawless and performing better than everyone else. We’re all slowly dying under this mask we don. Self-hatred may run deep, and it can be painful to let someone realize how much you truly despise yourself.
Pride stemming from low self-esteem manifests itself in a variety of ways, including an inability to apologize, the recourse to blame-shifting and gaslighting to remain in control or preserve an idealized self-image, and the continuation of unhealthy patterns of behavior (such as remaining in abusive relationships or at toxic work environments because of a false sense of competence) because the person believes they could “fix” them.
Entirely unattainable benchmarks of greatness.
If you have issues with pride, it’s likely because you’re striving for perfection. It’s natural to worry that people will criticize and reject you because of your imperfections. As a result, you strive for perfection in all that you undertake. However, this never seems enough to alleviate the void and the underlying uncertainty you feel.
When that gap stays untreated, it emerges as condemning other folks for their imperfections so that you may feel better. You feel bad that others avoid you because they fear being put down and condemned. Being flawless is unnecessary for success. Additionally, you need not be flawless to get a person’s affection and encouragement.
Having too much pride can lead to harmful behaviors like racism, homophobia, nationalism, bigotry, class discrimination, anti-semitism, and any other kind of discrimination based on a person’s perceived or actual characteristics. You may have noticed that these structures favorably reflect one group over another. These practices were devised by humans so that believers can improve their sense of self-worth and their relationship with God. The human mind is only interested in creating hierarchies within existing levels, giving the dominant group a sense of superiority.
How You Can Start Overcoming Pride
Follow these six principles, and you’ll soon be able to put pride in its place.
- Don’t strive to prove people wrong. Let them be wrong about you if they’re set on misinterpreting and misjudging you. Always remember that God will ultimately vindicate the meek and punish your attackers.
- Don’t attempt to tackle a great deal on your own. Use other people’s knowledge and experience by asking for advice and assistance. Listening to the advice of those who have gone before you can save you a lot of grief.
- Put aside any need to prove your superiority over others. Recognize that everyone is struggling with something. There are strengths and flaws in everyone. Make the most of your abilities to compensate for their weaknesses.
- Prideful thoughts and feelings need to be purged. If you want to make lasting changes in your attitude, you need to look at the emotions that are driving them. You must purge your mind of pride, egotism, and other negative feelings.
- Master the art of self-love. Discover your calling in Christ, and let him heal your anxieties. If you felt good about who you are, you would not need to put on an act.
- Don’t reject Christ’s sacrifice. The resources you gain through self-help treatments for pride are merely the beginning of recovery. But only Lord Jesus can end the prideful pattern once and for all. You can’t do this task on your own. If you want God to repair the damage and remove the wounds, you’ll need his help.
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