Bible Study: The Pride of Life


church I started two other articles the same day I started this one. I kept going backwards because they build upon each other. This one should be the first one of the three. The others will be the next two posted! We will start with the main verse of this article, sound like a plan?

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1 John 2:16

The pride of life accounts for one third of all that is in the world. Maybe not in exact quantities, however, it is still one of the three things being part of “all that is in the world”. Obviously, this is a big thing to deal with, being one third of all that is in the world and all. I have a recent personal experience to share with this as well, so I will share that first.

My Experience

My wife and I disagree. This is normal for two people who have opposing opinions about something, they tend to disagree. This disagreement could be about how the toothpaste tube should sit on the counter to what to do with a washrag after a shower. Well sometimes we disagree to the point of our pride getting hurt, then contention comes.

Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.

Proverbs 13:10

From this I learned I needed to keep my pride in check, otherwise contention will come. Before this verse was brought to my attention, I had no idea why we were being contentious. After that, because I strive to be a doer of the word, I started to not let my pride be hurt. This removed a lot of contention between my wife and I. This has made it more pleasant for everyone involved.

I feel the need to mention usually when my pride is involved it isn’t over toothpaste tubes and washrags, just to get that out of the way.

Another experience is when I am driving. You know, just about everyone hates it when they get cut off in traffic, lots of people get contentious about it. I use to be one of those people. Once I realized it was my pride being hurt and I became aware of it, then I changed the way I dealt with it. Now, I am a lot less prideful about it and I don’t get contentious anymore.

What I learned from this experience

Now, I have less pride of my life and have to deal with that problem even less. The reason is because I take the facts and act on the facts, this is called wisdom. The fact here is, only by pride cometh contention. My action to stop contention, is for me to remove my pride.

My point here is: because of my pride, I was contentious if someone hurt it, knowingly or unknowingly. I don’t let people offend me anymore because of something they say or do (or try not to at least). It’s such a great relief too, because I don’t have to deal with it anymore.

If you are contentious about anything… ever, then you know it is coming by pride… according to Proverbs 13:10.

At this point, you may see pride as one bad thing to have to deal with.

Affirming Verses

The next couple of verses are just add-ons to what has already been mentioned:

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 16:18

I don’t know if this verse needs a lot of explanation and I think you can think of examples of where this makes sense. But if something doesn’t make sense, then by all means email me.

Another verse which affirms the verse above is this one:

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Matthew 23:12

Why would you be exalting yourself unless you were being prideful about something? We know if you exalt yourself, then you will be abased. But if you humble yourself, then God does the exalting.

When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:2

This one is kind of straight forward as well. Pride is just all around bad, so it is best to just get it out of your life.

What kind of things am I prideful about?

You probably have this question now and the thing is, we can be prideful about our lives in many different aspects. For some people it is things they own, like a house or a car. If someone scratches your car, then you could get contentious about it, right? If your neighbor is mowing and sends a rock through your window, then you may get contentious about it if they don’t want to pay for it. The idea here is to get you thinking about things you may be prideful about.

If for example you make a jab at your husband or wife about their weight, then they may get contentious about it. However, it’s still hurting their pride. Not anything like a car or a house though, so there is a difference.

I will close with this: Anytime I think I have a problem, I just try to remember that I have got a God I can hand it over to to take care of. His word has been helpful to me and I hope you find my experiences and along with his word as an encouragement to know how helpful it is. I am nothing, without God.

This is not all there is to do with pride or the pride of life, however this is what I have been studying lately and I wanted to share it with you.

If this has been helpful, then I encourage you to share this with someone to help build them up. :)

In all things, let God be magnified!


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