The Grace that Opposes the Proud
After worship yesterday someone asked if I would send her the prayer of confession that we had on the screen. I thought I would include it here.
I’m seeing that it’s God’s grace as much as his distaste that causes him to oppose our pride. He sees how destructive and life-depleting pride is. And now that we’ve decided to follow Jesus, pride is just so unbecoming. At our adult retreat this year we’re going to be talking about how we can experience the Trinity. Humility is a core characteristic of each Person of the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — especially in their relationships with one another. Unless we adopt this same humble posture, we’re not going to fit in very well.
I realize that there are a host of questions around this issue of pride, like, “What about those of us who struggle with low self-esteem?” or “Is it wrong to feel good about a job well done?” or “Should I refrain from affirming other people so they don’t become proud?” These are all good questions. Maybe, instead focusing on pride, we would do well to simply try to understand and cultivate true humility — in ourselves rather than others. (Meditating on Philippians 2 is a good place to start.)
Here is the prayer from yesterday’s worship:
Father, there are many reasons why it’s right and good that we worship You. One practical reason is so we’ll remember how small we are. You are God, and we’re not. You’re the Savior of the world, and we’re not. You’re perfect, and we’re not. Far from it.
We need You.
We need You for our daily bread.
We need You for eternal life.
We need You if we’re going to survive another hour, another minute, another moment of this life.
Right now, we need Your forgiveness, especially for our pride - the pride that takes the credit instead of giving You the glory;
the pride that refuses to ask for help, or to accept Your help when you offer it anyway;
the pride that sees certain tasks or certain people as beneath us;
the pride that tries to resist temptation on our own;
the pride that wants to be forgiven when we fall, yet withholds forgiveness when we’re the victim.
We’re told that You oppose the proud but show grace to the humble.
We see now that Your coming against our pride is itself a grace,
because You see how it shrinks our world, and makes us odious to the people around us.
So please, God, forgive our pride, our hubris, and the fruit it has born in our lives, for the sake of Your Name and Your glory.
Amen.
