Beware of Pride
- Ezra Taft Benson
“The proud stand
more in fear of men’s judgment than of God’s judgment. Would we not do well to have
the pleasing of God as our motive rather than to try to elevate ourselves
above our brother and outdo another?”
Pride is a sin that
can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves. Most of us
consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the
learned, looking down at the rest of us. There is, however, a far more common
ailment among us—and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest
in so many ways, such as faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, murmuring,
living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise
that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous.”
“The scriptures
tell us that “only by pride cometh contention.” The scriptures testify
that the proud are easily offended and hold grudges. They withhold
forgiveness to keep another in their debt and to justify their injured
feelings. The proud do not receive counsel or correction easily. Defensiveness
is used by them to justify and rationalize their frailties and failures.
Pride adversely
affects all our relationships—our relationship with God and His servants,
between husband and wife, parent and child, employer and employee, teacher and
student, and all mankind. Our degree of pride determines how we treat our
God and our brothers and sisters. Christ wants to lift us to where He is.
Do we desire to do the same for others? Think of what pride has cost us in
the past and what it is now costing us in our own lives, our families, and the
Church. Think of the repentance that could take place with lives changed,
marriages preserved, and homes strengthened, if pride did not keep us from
confessing our sins and forsaking them.
The antidote for
pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness. Either we can choose to be humble
or we can be compelled to be humble. Alma said, “Blessed are they who
humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.”
We can choose to
humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement.
We can choose to
humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us.
We can choose to
humble ourselves by rendering selfless service.
We can choose to
humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently.
We can choose to
humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God.
We can choose to
humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him
first in our lives.
Let us choose to be
humble."
It was difficult cutting out only a portion of the talk to put up as quotes on here. I wanted to put so many but had to cut it down because I knew nobody would read them if I put much more! Like I said in the last post, I have found my obvious weakness and I'm working to overcome it. I hope that as time passes that I will get better and that it will be very natural to me. I want humility to be one of my strengths. As I've been pondering this topic, my mind kept going back to Alma 32:16 "blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble". I have definitely been compelled to become humble and I think that is a big reason why I'm writing all these things on my blog. I was compelled to become humble because recently I've needed to turn to my Father in Heaven more for peace and comfort. I hope that at least one person will read this blog and evaluate their own life and where they can improve. I hope that through this someone may choose to be humble rather than be compelled to be humble. Being compelled to be humble often includes pain and sorrow and this may help someone to avoid that.
So please go read this talk and find ways to improve, go to the temple, show charity to someone, forgive and forget, and most importantly, choose to be humble.
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