Commit to memory Psalm 16:18 (MSG): “First pride, then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.”

What is the root of pride? Is it the need for approval? The desire to be recognized? What do you think? Meditate on that question today.

2 Corinthians 5:12 reminds us that there is a difference between being confident and prideful. How do you distinguish between the two?

I John 2:16 puts pride in the same context as lust. What do you think? How are those two issues similar?

Is there much reason to be prideful without an audience? Why do we let peer pressure influence us so much? Talk to God about that today.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 says that “patience is better than pride” (NIV). If we focus on patiently seeking God, then pride has no place to fester.

Psalm 10:4 warns us not to fill our heads with so much pride and worldly thoughts that we leave no room for God. What does that mean to you?

Last week, we talked about King Uzziah’s prideful downfall (2 Chronicles 26). Interestingly, the year that King Uzziah died was the same year that God appeared in a vision to the prophet Isaiah (see Isaiah 6 for the awesome story).

Although Isaiah’s vision occurred in the temple – the same place where King Uzziah made his fateful transgression, the two men’s experiences could not have been more different:
·    Uzziah marched into the temple as if he owned the place, but Isaiah cried his heart out to God.
·    Uzziah banked on his powerful position, but Isaiah acknowledged his lowly place (v. 5).
·    Uzziah had a how-dare-you attitude, but Isaiah expressed his willingness to go and do the Lord’s work (v. 8).
·    Rather than responding to the Lord in a contemptuous way like Uzziah, the prophet Isaiah was extremely humble and remorseful.
·    Uzziah’s arrogance earned him a lifetime of punishment and exclusion, but Isaiah’s repentance was rewarded with forgiveness and the honor of experiencing God’s presence (v. 7).

How many times have we heard of heroes – both real and fictional – who lost their power and/or position because of their pride? Uzziah was afflicted with a physical disease. Moses was denied entrance into the Promised Land. Thor was tossed out of Asgard. Pick the lead character out of any Shakespearean play, mythological tale or comic book, and he or she probably dealt with pride, to some degree.

The question is: how did our heroes handle it? Did they let pride consume and destroy them, or did they demonstrate humility and overcome the temptation to think of themselves as better or more deserving than others?

What about us? We aren’t even famous or have special powers, and yet we deal with pride in our own lives every day. We can take the tragic hero’s path and end up as a lesson for others to learn, or we can choose to take the superhero’s path and rise above – victorious!

Pride was Uzziah’s demise. What is keeping you from being everything that God wants you to become? Talk to him about it today.

Like the chief priest and his 80 brave comrades in our story this week, sometimes heroes need backup. Are you someone others can count on?