Pride Part 2 (with a little side of boasting)

So, yesterday I talked about how being too prideful can hurt a relationship rather than help it in the context of dating/marital relationships, but pride can also ruin other relationships. Let's use an example from my own life(no, nosy. It's not gossip. I'm not using any names.)


When I was little, one of my best friends was also a part of a clique. We hung out a lot, but she kept our friendship separate from her clique. I tried to hang out with them, but they just didn't ever accept me into their "group". Eventually, she told me that she didn't want to be friends anymore, while her entire clique sat and watched, laughing. It was pretty embarrassing and to this day, I don't know why I couldn't be friends with her. If I were to guess, it would probably be because I wasn't "good enough" for their little group...stemming from...yeah. Pride. We're all friendly now, and I don't hold a grudge(later blog). It was all stupid little kid stuff, but it didn't seem stupid at the time...but it's a good example of pride.

I ws browsing the Christian nonfiction section, and that's when I discovered Justin Lookadoo (remember him?). I read an interesting sentence: "Relationships cannot glorify God. Only the people in them can." Now, immediately, red flags went up in my brain. I've always been taught about having godly relationships with people(*rings bell in your mind*). Did you catch that? We're to have godly relationships. Your relationships (no, not just dating) are gifts from God. Whether it be with your parents, siblings, best-EST friends, girlfriend/boyfriend, WHATEVER--if you are in God's Will, it is a gift from Him. You don't NEED to be in a relationship to glorify God, but it IS possible to be in a relationship where both parties are glorifying God.

Check out Esther 6:6-11. The King asked Haman what he should do to honor someone higher than himself. Haman gave out all of these extraordinary ideas, and that was all true...but the thing was that Haman thought the King was talking about honoring him. When he had to lead Mordecai around on horseback in all of the King's finest, don't you think that it was more than a little bit humbling. After that, Haman ended up killing himself on the gallows that he'd built for Mordecai.

The moral of the story: When you're too proud to realize that YOU are NOT the gift...something is wrong.