But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)

C.S. Lewis once wrote that pride is a “spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense,” and that “it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.” Scripture echoes this diagnosis. Jesus includes pride in his list of evils in Mark 7, while James 4:6 warns us plainly that God stands in opposition to the proud.

The Psalms, Proverbs, and much of the Old Testament are thick with God’s warnings that the proud man will meet his end in destruction, that his prayers will not be heard, that his sense of security is an imagined construct, and that his self-reliance is an arrogant delusion. Pride promises stability while quietly hollowing out the soul.

While pride may be the most pervasive and destructive sin Christians contend with, it is often the one we are most unwilling to confront in our own hearts. We readily identify it in others yet excuse it in ourselves under the guise of confidence, competence, or even spiritual maturity. 

But shouldn’t we be more prudent? Especially if we know from the sobering verse in James 4 that God is set against the proud.

I’m writing this article on the heels of reading The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter. Writing in 17th-century England, Baxter confronts the religious leaders of his day on several fronts, but chief among them is their pride and their lazy tolerance of its toxic presence in their own lives. That pride, he argues, produced a church that was growing cold. Orthodox in words, but lifeless in power.

Baxter famously wrote that “humility is not a mere ornament of a Christian, but an essential part of the new creature.” Pride is so egregious to our souls because it seeks to displace God as king, substituting his authority with our own desires, rules, and plans. It stands in direct opposition to the gospel, which declares that we are destitute and needy, that the wages we have earned are death and eternal separation from God. We are the creature; He is the Creator. He is God and we are not.

And yet, despite knowing this, we find endless ways to redirect glory and honor toward ourselves.

This book left me wrestling with my own heart. It forced me to ask uncomfortable questions: Where does pride still live in me? How do I recognize it, and how do I actively fight against it rather than tolerate it?

I think we often talk about pride in broad, abstract terms. We condemn it in principle while rarely examining it in practice. But for the sake of whoever may be reading this, I want to move away from generalities and toward something more personal and specific.

What follows is not a theoretical framework, but a window into my own self-examination. I want to walk you through the questions I wrote down for myself, questions that exposed areas of pride I am prone to overlook. My hope is that by letting you see how I examined my own heart, you might be better equipped to examine yours.

First, I identified four areas that I know I am prone to pride: morality/piety, reputation, knowledge, and wealth. Then I just started writing down questions to myself, things that I know I’ve thought of others or about myself in each of those areas, or sin that is a symptom of pride in a specific area, like these below: 

Money

• Snobbery of heart
• Lack of generosity toward others in need
• Daydreaming of how to spend money on myself
• Envious and covetous

• Discontentment
• Self-sufficiency 
• Lack of PRAYERFUL dependance
• Control
• Materialism
• Worldliness and comfort seeking

I am tempted to find my self-worth in work achievements, status, possessions, freedom, and security. 

Knowledge

• Insisting on my own way
• Dogmatic and stubborn
• Fear of being challenged
• Want people to think I’m wise  
• Anger toward those who may challenge me
• Want to be considered intelligent and well read
• Sure of my own judgments

I’m tempted to find my self-worth in perceived wisdom, good judgment, understanding, and intelligence.

Reputation

• Gossip
• Raising suspicions of another person’s character
• Turning a conversation to myself 
• Envy 
• Flattery
• Fishing for compliments
• Concern about how other people view me
• People pleasing 
• Seeking applause
• White lies to exalt myself

I’m tempted to find my self-worth in whether or not people view me in a positive way. 

Morality

• Lack of self-examination
• Feeling of moral superiority
• Compare myself to others as my definition of good
• Look down on others for their sin
• Lazy in private Christian devotion 
• Concerned more with the world’s sin than my own
• Hypocrisy
• Desire for other people to see my good works

I’m tempted to find my self-worth in rule-following and in my comparative goodness to others.

--

If we stop here, this exercise would be potentially helpful, but it would be incomplete. Self-examination alone, however honest, does not produce transformation. Left to itself, it can easily slide into either self-justification or self-condemnation. Neither leads to humility; both are just pride turned inward.

The purpose of identifying these sin patterns is not to catalog our failures, but to bring them to light and present them honestly before God. Pride is not weakened by vague remorse, but by specific repentance and renewed dependence on the atoning work of Christ. 

How Do We Fight Pride and Grow in Humility?

After identifying pride in our hearts, the question becomes: How do we fight it? How do we grow in humility?

Remember

Remember the astonishing humility of Christ, his costly death, and his glorious resurrection! We fight pride by fixing our attention on Christ and what he has accomplished for us, rather than what we have accomplished. 

…though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11, emphasis added)

Repent

Fully, specifically confess and turn from sins of pride. Repentance requires honesty before God and a renewed focus of the mind on godly things rather than self-exalting thoughts.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:7-10, emphasis added)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9, emphasis added)

Rejoice

Rejoice in the Lord’s kindness, mercy, and glory! Our pride fades as we grow in gratitude, knowing that we are nothing apart from Christ, and when we truly recognize the greatness of the LORD.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:4-6, emphasis added)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, emphasis added)

The Puritan John Owen famously said, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.” We must take up arms against our sin and truly put it to death, or, like cancer, it will grow back in new ways. Pride is deceptive and dangerous. Pride thrives in generalities but weakens under honest examination. By remembering Christ, repenting specifically, rejoicing in God’s grace, and learning and obeying his word by the Spirit, we are slowly trained in humility. May the Lord make us a humble people as he gives us more and more grace.