Prideful or Humble?

"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18

As I was reading in Proverbs this morning, I was struck by how beautifully this particular proverb ties in with the New Testament commands for wives to submit. If we have a humble spirit, submitting will be a much easier task than if we are prideful. Pride leads to feelings of entitlement, which leads to resisting submission. If I am prideful, I am going to be concerned with *my* right to be heard, *my* ability to make intelligent decisions, *my* right to do what I see fit. Why should *I* have to do what my husband wants, or abide by his decisions?

A prideful spirit is self-focused while a humble spirit focuses first on the Lord, and then on others. In a marriage, pride does bring destruction, we see it around us every day. Perhaps this is one reason why divorce is as prevalent within the church as it is without. We are not taught to think beyond ourselves, and it's killing our marriages and our families.

So much of the church is structured around "individual" needs, that it promotes pride. We have special programs for everyone ~ are you single? Do you have toddlers? Are you a "youth"? Instead of feeding and discipling and encouraging humble service, our churches perpetuate a prideful, "What can you do for me?" attitude within their congregations.

It is time for Christian men and women to lay down their pride and to pick up the humble, multi-generational vision that we find in Scripture. If we would do that, we would see reformation and revival ~ within the church, yes. But more importantly, we would see reformation and revival within families and marriages.