WEEK 8- Beware of Pride

There is a talk by President Benson called, Beware of Pride. Every person can benefit from reading this talk. It is applicable to everyone. Many people think of pride as a shortcoming; or in other words, not a big deal. President Benson makes it very clear that pride is more than a shortcoming; Pride is a sin. Pride is why Lucifer fell.

Pride is something that is easy to see in other people, but that we assume we ourselves don’t have. If we look at how President Benson defines pride, then we realize that it is something every person needs to be aware of and improve on. “Pride is a very misunderstood sin and many are sinning in ignorance.” “The central feature of pride is enmity . . . enmity means hostility or a state of opposition.” Whenever you are in opposition to someone, even if it is for something simple, you are feeling hostile towards that person. You are basically saying that you are better than they are.

 

Recently there was a little girl at the barn where my daughter takes riding lessons who was sending some not so nice texts to my daughter. This girl was being overbearing and inappropriate. My feelings were, this little girl is a jerk and her mother is not a good mom. I felt her mother should watch her daughter’s texts and should have taught her daughter to be kinder. In this case, I am feeling hostility and I am in opposition to another. I am feeling like I am the better mom and my daughter is the nicer child. I realized after I read the talk that I need to work on pride.

Pride is essentially competitive in nature. C.S. Lewis said, “It is the comparison that makes you proud. The pleasure of being above the rest.” President Benson said, “(Pride) is manifest in so many ways, such as fault finding, gossiping, backbiting murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous.” Again, “It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone. Pride has gone.”

I changed my thoughts of comparison and feeling above another. I now feel that the little girl is just a little girl. My daughter isn’t nicer because we aren’t comparing. We are now focusing on how we can be better people ourselves and not finding fault in our barn friends.

Benson, E. T. (n.d.). Beware of Pride. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1989/04/beware-of-pride?lang=eng

Jeeva, S., http://www.destinywordoftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Three-fingers.jpg

Lewis, C. S. (2012). Mere Christianity. New York: HarperOne.