Love...is not proud.

My oldest kiddo has become quite the little artist. I honestly don’t think it will take long before he can draw better than me, which quite honestly isn’t saying much! But, back when his first drawings consisted of nothing more than crazy scribbles all over a page, maybe even in multiple colors, our Parents-As-Teacher gal encouraged us to teach Harrison, even at that age, to be proud in what he has accomplished on his own. So, we’d turn our little two-year-old loose with some white paper and a box of crayons, and within just moments, have several masterpieces of contemporary art! And, being the wonderful parents we are (cough, cough), we doted over every drawing and kept telling Harrison how proud he must be of the artwork he had created. For little children, it is so important for their parents, and all other important adults in their lives, to teach them to understand how to be proud of the things they accomplish on their own. It encourages independence. It encourages a healthy self-esteem. It encourages hard work. It teaches that it is not about what others have accomplished, but to always be proud of the work they are focused on.

Personal pride is part of being healthy, but at some point, we can begin to develop an unhealthy pride. A pride that goes beyond simply acknowledging the quality of work, attitude or life we creating and becomes puffed up, giving the proud person a feeling of superiority over others. The Bible tells us in Proverbs that pride (an unhealthy, puffed up pride) leads to disgrace, arguments, destruction and humiliation. This is not the picture of young child holding up their scribbles of work with a giant smile on his face asking for his parents to acknowledge his work. This type of pride lacks a major, underlying characteristic that protects itself from the ends mentioned above—humility. Unlike an unhealthy, puffed up pride, humility, according to proverbs, brings a person wisdom, honor, riches and long life. Now, don’t be fooled and think that to be humble you must be a pushover. Humbleness does not equate to allowing others to walk all over you. In fact, true humbleness can only be achieved if one is confident enough to allow others to come first. I heard Toby Mac on the radio the other doing his Jesus Freaks segment and he was talking about humility. Humility is a strong, quiet, and solid quality that is not easily shaken by outside forces. Think about that. Pride makes people defensive because pride always worries it can be shaken. However, humility is not afraid it will go away, so it continues in its own quiet strength. Those who are the loudest and fiercest are usually full of pride and humbleness. That’s exactly why Jesus set the perfect example of humbleness. Even as He humbled Himself to allow His fellow people and Romans convict unfairly, beat Him within an inch of life, spit upon Him, mock Him, and ultimately sentence Him to an inhumane death penalty, Jesus never once cried out to defend His pride of being God in the flesh. It was the strong, quiet, solid confidence that allowed Christ to suffer, undeservedly, the unthinkable. Yet, ultimately, it was that quality that lead to the greatest victory ever on the face of the earth—victory over sin and death for all people for all time!!!! Now, that is something to be proud about!

The next description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 says that love “is not proud”. Love is not the puffed up, unhealthy version of itself that promises big things yet produces nothing. No, love is not proud because love is humbleness in motion. Love is the strong, quiet strength that does not waver whatever the circumstances may be. What it says it is, it is. It does not need to claim wisdom, honor, riches and long life because it proves those things on its own. What kind of love do you have? Do you have a puffed up love that leaves others broken and bleeding behind you? Or is your love the kind that draws others in, builds them up, and leaves them better off than they were before?

Proverbs 22:4
True humility and fear of the LORD lead to riches, honor, and long life.
NLT