Well! Are You Proud of Yourself NOW?

Consider Galatians 6:2-5.

It's a familiar question, "Well! Are your proud of yourself now?" Actually, the expected answer seems usually to be "No." But does it have to be? Just what does pride in self mean?

Pride certainly runs with an obnoxious crowd, including vanity, conceit, vainglory, arrogance, and egotism. Yet sometimes it chums up with self-esteem. We compulsive overeaters, whose constant companion has been low self-esteem, can't very easily see that combination as bad. Still, just what does the word pride really mean? Perhaps pride is deep pleasure or satisfaction from your own achievements, or maybe it means the consciousness of one's own dignity, as in swallowing pride. 

Les Carter, author of Enough About You, Let's Talk About Me, observes:

Humility is the opposite of pride because it reflects a lack of self-preoccupation, a willingness to serve, an acknowledgement that we are limited in our ability to control other people and circumstances, and an understanding that we cannot demand favored treatment.

Humility we know about as we work Step 7, "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." Does this mean we have to approach Step 7 without the remnants of self esteem we may have preserved? Do we give up our dignity in this step? Do we have to believe we have no worth, no merit?

No. We do not give up our dignity, for we are God's children, and how dignified is that! We have worth, we have merit. And we have self-esteem. But pride? No, we don't have pride in ourselves by any of the definitions, for the best option of a definition for pride in ourselves is a feeling of deep pride or satisfaction derived from our own achievements. Hey, look back up there at step 1! We admitted we were powerless over food, and that our lives had become unmanageable. That means we realized we have nothing to be proud of, for we can't pull ourselves out of this muck. 

But pride? Oh, yes. We've got pride. We have the shield of Abraham, the fear of Isaac, the mighty one of Jacob. With the writer of Psalm 47, we see ourselves as the pride of Jacob, for whom God chose our inheritance and to whom he gives his love. 

When you're asked, "Are you proud of yourself now?" answer with awe and honor, "I'm proud of God who made me what I am now!"    

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What does humility mean to you?