The Foolishness of Pride
I pray that I will never shrink back from declaring my allegiance to the Lord. I never want to hide my faith or lie about who I am because of Christ, but so often I find myself walking in Peter’s shoes. I understand the foolishness that goes with believing you are invincible. Most of us who lived through our teens and early twenties have some idea that the boasting of youth isn’t always founded on truth. As I have matured, I understand the depth of my foolishness. I understand the foolishness of Peter’s bold profession that he would never fall away. In the end, Peter did give his life for his faith. He did stand by Jesus’ side until his final breath, but when Jesus was arrested and crucified, Peter was nowhere to be found. Only John remained at the foot of the cross alongside Jesus’ mother. The rest of the men who so boldly declared they would never fall away from him, fled and hid.
“Pride goest before destruction.” (Proverbs 16:18) it is when we think we could not possibly stumble that we fall the hardest. We truly are foolish if we close our eyes to our ability to be weak. Pretending we are stronger than we are does not make us so. It only keeps us from asking for help. Perhaps that is the lesson I learn from Peter the most. Peter was zealous for God. That is a great thing. We should be strongly aligned to our Savior. We should defend our faith and proclaim it with boldness. However, we shouldn’t neglect the weaknesses of our character. God created us with both strengths and weaknesses. It is our strengths that we can lend to others, but it is our weakness that allows others to shine. Because we have both strengths and weaknesses, we can be a unified body. We need one another, and we were created to work intertwined with our brothers and sisters. To ignore our weakness or struggle denies ourselves the support of we were designed to need and use.
Like Peter, I tend to think I am stronger than I am. Last week, my two sons both reminded me that I need to have a touch less pride. I was playing with the kids in my school and they got a bit too excited. Before I knew it, I was at the bottom of a dog pile of happy toddlers. My youngest son works with me, and he soon came and started gently removing children from on top of me. He told the kids, “Careful, my mama is fragile.” I laughed but was grateful for the help. The next day, I was with my oldest son and my daughter. I don’t remember what she was doing, but my oldest son said almost exactly what my youngest had said, “Careful, remember Mama is fragile.” For a minute, I started to complain, but they are not wrong. I do have an autoimmune disease that causes me pain all the time. Sometimes, the lightest touch is extremely painful. I guess, to them that means I am fragile. I thought I had kept my weakness hidden. I try to pretend nothing hurts, but they see it. Though I lie and say I am perfectly fine, I realized that I fool no one. Isn’t that the way it goes? We can try to hide our weakness. We think we do a good job, but everyone sees it.
Let us stop pretending to be stronger than we are. Let us admit our weakness instead of standing behind pride. We were created to need one another, and we were created to help one another. When we lean and allow others to lean we walk in unity. When we are united and intertwined, we are so much stronger than if we try to walk alone.
(Written by Keegan Harkins.)
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