"A proud Christian" Isn't that a contradiction?
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
This Twitter encounter got me wondering. So I asked, can one truly be a Christian and tagged him/herself "A Proud Christian"?
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. ~ Galatians 6:14
As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the worldโs interest in me has also died. ~ Galatians 6:14 (NLT)
For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? ~ 1 Corinthians 4:7
For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasnโt given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift? ~ 1 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT)
The Twitter account has Followers = 0; Following = 211K, so I was unsure if it was a Bot or a real account. But it sure attracted a sea of โproudโ Christians.
Donโt get me wrong. As Christians, we mustnโt be ashamed of the One who loved us and shed His blood to redeem us from eternal perdition in hell.
Mark 8:38 38 - Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Philippians 1:29 - For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
It is only in the sense of the preceding that a Christian can be proud - of and in Christ alone.
We should be so identified with and seek not only to make Him known but also be ready to suffer for His nameโs sake if the need arises.
And it is only on this basis that Apostle Paul prided himself in the Savior.
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. ~ Galatians 6:14 (KJV)
There are two sides to Oxford Languages Dictionaryโs online definition of pride (proud).
feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closely associated.
having or showing a high or excessively high opinion of oneself.
As Christians, we are saved by Godโs grace alone. We owe all that we are now orโll ever become in life or in eternity to Godโs love. There is therefore no room for negative pride.
Pride is an ever-present besetting pitfall. We must therefore walk humbly with the Lord.
James 4:6, 10
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
1 Peter 5:6 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
As a Christian, why must you run away from that unbecoming negative pride as defined in Oxford Dictionary?
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis has to say to us.
Now what you want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive - is competitive by its very nature-while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident.
Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.
We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If every one else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about.
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. That is why I say that Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not.
The sexual impulse may drive two men into competition if they both want the same girl. But that is only by accident; they might just as likely have wanted two different girls. But a proud man will take your girl from you, not because he wants her, but just to prove to himself that he is a better man than you.
Greed may drive men into competition if there is not enough to go round; but the proud man, even when he has got more than he can possibly want, will try to get still more just to assert his power. Nearly all those evils in the world which people put down to greed or selfishness are really far more the result of Pride
If I am a proud man, then, as long as there is one man in the whole world more powerful, or richer, or cleverer than I, he is my rival and my enemy. The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.
Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But pride always means enmity - it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.
In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that - and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison - you do not know God at all.
As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.
He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? - Micah 6:8
Source
Copyright by ยฉC. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, HarperOne, 2001