What happens when you don’t do well for a grade at school? Do you shift the blame off yourself and onto someone or something else? It can be easy to want to do that. When you don’t get the grade you feel you deserve, it can be easy to want to defend yourself.
You might try to speak up and out to get attention and let everyone know why the grade you got was unfair. Now, it’s true, there might be a group project you worked on where someone didn’t do their part, and the grade you got was not fair. But for the most part, if you’ve got a good teacher, your grades reflect you and the work you did. (Or didn’t do)
Shifting the blame to someone else isn’t healthy. In fact, it’s a form of pride. Pride in our lives often shows up as needing to defend ourselves. We feel the need for justice, and so we go out of our way to let everyone know our situation.
To fear the Lord is to hate evil;
I hate pride and arrogance,
evil behavior and perverse speech. – Proverbs 8:13 (NIV)
Pride isn’t a good trait. When it comes down to it, pride lifts up our own interests and needs over those of others. It says I’m right and someone else is wrong. It often ignores the feelings and thoughts of others and of God.
God doesn’t want pride to become a part of our lives because of what it does to our heart and our relationship with Him. Pride will keep us from following God and His word. When run to the ultimate end, most sin begins with pride and thinking we know better than God.
So today, examine your heart. See if you’ve allowed pride to become a habit. If you have, just ask God for His help. He can show you what to change and what to do to not let pride rule your life today.
