Being A Biblical Wife in a Modern World

Is It Okay to Be Proud?

"The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished."

~Proverbs 16:5~

"When pride comes then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."

~Proverbs 11:2~

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

~Proverbs 16:18~

"But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble' "

~James 4:6~

"People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,"

~2 Timothy 3:2~

The subject of pride or being proud is brought up several times throughout the Bible. It is a feeling that is important that we women of the Word take seriously so that this sin does not slowly creep into our lives. I've read and re-read numerous Bible verses that speak of being proud, including those listed above, but I was also curious how the dictionary defined pride. Here is what I read:

noun- a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements

After reading this definition, I went to the thesaurus to find out what other words were similar to pride:

honor, self-respect, self-worth, fulfillment, arrogance, vanity, self-love, haughtiness, glory

No wonder pride is considered a sin! As a dance instructor and coach I have said, " I'm so proud of you!" countless times but as I dug deeper and learned more about the harmful effects of pride and being proud of our own accomplishments, I have decided to make the commitment to not use the word proud or pride in my vocabulary. Seriously!

I never ever want to come across as a woman or wife who is boastful, arrogant, or finds her fulfillment in mine or my husband's accomplishments. Our accomplishments are God's accomplishments. When I wake up in the morning that is God's accomplishment. I never want to take satisfaction in my own accomplishments. Anything that I accomplish in life, whether it be an award, completing an awesome workout, making it through a long work day, or creating a new recipe, comes from God. It is because He gave me the motivation, encouragement, and guidance to such things. All the glory belongs to Him and I never want to be mistaken for someone who tried to take credit for something I honestly did not do.

Pride is sin. Pride is self-worship. Pride is something that I never really understood until recently and it is something that I hope to carve out of my life. When my hubby was offered his new job I so badly wanted to run and jump and tell him how proud I was of him. It was difficult to not use the word but I found other ways to congratulate this wonderful happening in our lives:

"I am overwhelmed by your hard work and dedication. Thank you for all that you do!"

"Thank you Jesus for leading us to this new job and location."

"God is so good."

You may think that I have lost my marbles and that saying that you're proud of someone isn't a big deal but as I read these verses and continued deeper into what His Word says about being prideful, I just can't have anything to do with it. I want to be humble and I want to be a woman and wife who is quick to give credit to her Provider. I never want anyone to think that I am arrogant and that I believe my accomplishments were all because of me. I am a daughter of Christ and because of Him I am confident and because of Him I am encouraged to make goals and motivated to accomplish them.