Pride Cometh

Pride has been called the root of all sin, and rightly so.  The first sin (if we can even talk about the concept of time in this instance) occurred when Satan, exalted in pride, tried to overcome God himself.  There is a biblical difference between wrong pride (self-exalting pride) and right pride (others-exalting pride). 

A Father’s pride in his daughter when she does well in school.  An American’s pride in his nation when he hears of a hero in the service over seas.  Paul took great pride in the Corinthian church (cf. 2 Cor. 7:4).  What could we say was in John’s mind other than pride when he said that he had “no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 Jn. 4)?  There is a sense in which pride can be a good thing.

Contrasted against that right pride, we are all aware of wrong pride.  Its what turns us off of sports stars.  Its what makes us hate the bad guys in the movies.  We love to quote Proverbs 16:18, and always in the flowery language of the KJV, “Pride cometh before the fall.”  The prophets constantly berate against the pride of the various nations – look it up in a concordance sometime, it’s surprising!  This is the type of pride that comes to mind when we first think of the word.  This is the wrong kind of pride.

I write this because I have a question.  This morning I jokingly wrote in a tweet that since I was getting fitted for a tux today for my brother’s wedding in August I would have to maintain my incredible muscular build until then which, unfortunately, is a lie.  As long as I keep eating popcorn and cookies each day I should have no problem maintaining my shape.

Now, I don’t feel particularly guilty about being sarcastic and poking fun at myself, but if we analyze that type of joke (which occur all the time around us) what it breaks down to being is a presentation of false pride.  Perhaps at its root it is a way to humble oneself as you admit your own faults, but is that all it is?  Or does it fit into the category of wrong pride?

What is further interesting about this question is that it can’t be answered by one of those WWJD questions.  There certainly was a category for sarcasm in Jesus’ day (cf. Gal. 5:12), but self-deprecating humor would have been unrecognizable in his culture.  Even today if you were to travel outside of North America you would see that this type of humor generally does not exist to the degree that it does on our turf.

So, what’s the answer?  Is this wrongful pride, or does this type of humor defy the categories I’ve created?

bry