Pride versus Brokenness
(My husband sent this article to me the other day…written by Harold Vaughan…and I thought I would pass it on. There is not one of us that do not struggle with foolish pride on a continual basis. Knowing that God resists the proud but gives GRACE to the humble is reason enough to desire to be made aware of the characteristics of pride and thus, with God’s help, strive to avoid this sin in our hearts. I do know this – if our reaction to the title is “Oh, I know someone that needs to read this”, then we probably need to spend extra time reading, rereading and contemplating the truths presented…)
PRIDE VERSUS BROKENNESS
by Harold Vaughan
Pride grieves God.
Brokenness secures grace.
Pride sets you up for a fall.
Brokenness prepares the way for God’s favor.
Pride spawns competition.
Brokenness builds community.
Pride keeps you from praying.
Brokenness causes you to pray.
Pride blinds you to your wicked ways.
Brokenness opens your eyes to your wicked ways.
Pride keeps you from seeking God’s face.
Brokenness encourages you to seek God’s face.
Pride is characterized by a stiff neck.
Brokenness is exemplified by a bowed head.
Pride fragments families.
Brokenness reconciles families.
Pride generates contention.
Brokenness invites unity.
Pride is the mother of rebellion.
Brokenness is the heart of submission.
Pride glories in self will, self effort, and self exaltation.
Brokenness glories in the Cross.
Pride compares Self against others—“I am smarter than you…I am cleaner than you…l am stronger than you.”
Brokenness compares Self with Christ and concludes—“I am the chief of sinners.”
Pride reflects the nature of Satan.
Brokenness mirrors the image of Christ.
Pride takes credit for accomplishments.
Brokenness recognizes all good accomplishments have their source outside of Self.
Pride seeks recognition from men.
Brokenness seeks approval from God.
Pride will make you cover up and hide from others.
Brokenness frees you to be transparent and honest.
Pride leads you to blame circumstances or others for your failure.
Brokenness accepts responsibility for failure.
Pride breeds suspicion of fellow believers.
Brokenness brings more suspicion of Self than anyone else.
Pride makes you think more highly of yourself.
Brokenness enables you to think more highly of others.
Pride is quick to detect pride in others.
Brokenness is quick to identify pride in oneself.
Pride makes you critical.
Brokenness makes you compassionate.
Pride hastily applies preaching to others.
Brokenness is quick to internalize preaching.
Pride easily detects the speck in your brother’s eye.
Brokenness readily detects the beam in your own eye.
Pride believes you are a good person who happened to do some bad things.
Brokenness realizes you are a sinner through-and-through.
Pride puffs up and swells your head.
Brokenness brings perspective and breaks your heart.
Pride deals with sin in general.
Brokenness deals with sin in specifics.
Pride deals with the fruit of sin.
Brokenness deals with the root of sin.
Pride will cause you to deal with things that are respectable.
Brokenness causes you to deal with what is real.
Pride brings crustiness and hardness.
Brokenness brings pliability.
Pride is consumed with “I”.
Brokenness is concerned with “Not I, but Christ.”
Pride seeks prominence for Self.
Brokenness seeks the preeminence of Christ.
Pride makes the faults of others look BIG and my faults look small.
Brokenness makes my sins look BIG and the faults of others seem small.
Pride defends its rights.
Brokenness dies to its rights.
Pride makes me look down on others.
Brokenness makes me look up to heaven.
Pride keeps me from asking forgiveness when I have been wrong.
Brokenness makes me eager to humble myself when I have done wrong.
Pride breeds complacency.
Brokenness births hunger and thirst for new spiritual horizons.
Pride covers sin.
Brokenness discovers sin.
Pride barricades you from God.
Brokenness demolishes the barrier between you and God.
Pride builds a wall between us and others.
Brokenness builds bridges between us and others.
Pride disregards the Chief Cornerstone.
Brokenness falls upon the Chief Cornerstone.
Lord, bend this proud and stiff-necked I,
Help me to bow the head and die.
That it may no longer be I,
But Christ that lives in me.