Christian Living
Self-pity is pride. It doesn't look like it, but it is. It appears to be needy. But the need arises from a wounded ego and the desire of the self-pitying is not really for others to see them as helpless, but heroes (remember the Hong Kong soap operas that we watched as kids at 3 pm on Sunday afternoon?). The need self-pity feels does not come from a sense of unworthiness, but from a sense of UNrecognized worthiness. It is the response of UNapplauded pride.
When pride appears in this form of "weak" mask, it is actually beginning to worry about the future. In the heart of the proud, anxiety is to the future what self-pity is to the past. What did not go well in the past gives us a sense that we deservebetter. But if we could not make things go our way in the past, we may not be able to in the future either. Instead of making the proud humble, this possibility makes them anxious.
Anxiety does not look like pride (from the outside). It looks weak. It looks as though you admit you don't control the future. Yes, in a sense the proud admit that. But the admission does not kill pride until the proud heart is willing to look to the One Who does control the future and rest in Him. These proud are hanging onto their right of self-sufficiency even as it crumbles on the horizon of the future.
Look how God indicts anxious Israel: Isaiah 51:12-13 "I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy?" God is showing them their pride beneath their fear. In other words, "Who do you think you are to be afraid of mere men? You must really think you are somebody to be afraid like this!" Your fear of man is a form of pride.
Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride? God gives the answer: “ the Lord, your Maker “ I am He Who comforts you, Who promises to take care of you; and those who threaten you are mere men who die. So your fear must mean that you do not trust Me. You must think that your protection hangs on you. And even though you are not sure that your own resources will take care of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance, rather than faith in my grace. So all your trembling "weak as it is " reveals pride. The remedy? Turn from self-reliance to God-reliance, and put your faith in the all-sufficient power of His grace.
Peter's statement shows that one way to be humble is to "cast your anxieties on God." Notice that he says 1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." Casting all your care upon him is not another sentence. That is saying,"HOW YOU HUMBLE YOURSELF UNDER GOD'S MIGHTY HAND" that is, BY CASTING ALL YOUR CARE UPON HIM. That is true humility.
Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won't. Therefore the way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the promise of His grace in the words, He cares for you.
By the way, God is not proud...He will have us even though we have shown (many times) that we prefer everything else to Him.
You may feel that this exhortation of humility seemed cruel esp in the midst of a fiery trial or suffering. However, if you focused on the situation, you will be consumed by it and not realized that God had a plan for your lives. The only way you would discover it is by embracing the present circumstances in light of God's flawless promises for you.
But let him that boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord which exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 9:24
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