“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”  (Proverbs 16:18) This is a verse that many people have heard their whole lives. It has been taught over and over. There are children’s stories written about it. It is even the basis for some church guidelines.

Often people look down on someone who lives a proud lifestyle. People gossip about them, slander them, and mock them for drawing attention to themselves; as if treating them like this would somehow repay them for being proud. So why should you be proud if being proud is wrong?

You can spot a proud person very easily. Just think about it for a bit – if you are talking with someone and they keep mentioning their new vehicle, is that not an indicator that they are probably proud of their vehicle? If you take note of people’s conversations, you can quickly discern the things that they take pride in. Maybe it is their family, their job, their possessions, their education, et cetera. If you are honest with yourself, you can even gauge your own pride by taking note of the things that you “randomly” bring up in conversations.

This world is full of people who are proud about the things that do not matter, but not proud of the one thing that does matter – God. How often do you meet someone who is proud about God? If a person is proud of their job, they will somehow find a way to constantly squeeze comments about their job into their conversations; but how often do you hear someone just randomly bring up things about God in their conversations?  Sadly, meeting someone like this is not very common. When is the last time you brought up God in a non-spiritual conversation?

If a person is not proud of something, they will probably not talk about it very much. So if you do not talk much about God, that could be an indicator that you are not proud of your relationship with Him. What is the opposite of being proud? Is it not shame? So if you are not proud of God, does that not make you ashamed of Him? Jesus said: “…whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory…” (Luke 9:26) This is a very clear message from God Himself.

The apostle Paul had a very firm grasp on this concept. In 2 Corinthians 10:17-18 he said: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” In 2 Corinthians 11 he brags about his accomplishments in Christ: “(v16) Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast…(v23) Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.” Paul was without doubt proud of his relationship with God, and showed it by talking about it.

So let me ask you again – Are you proud enough?