Pride Is a Funny Thing

A couple of days ago someone told me that God hates pride. They were referencing someone we both know who had done well in a given area and took pride in their accomplishment. I tried to explain to this person that there is a difference in taking pride in a job well done or an accomplishment, and being a prideful person. The truly ironic thing is that the person who was tossing condemnation on another for having pride in their accomplishment was now filled with pride over their own intellect and told me that I could not tell them what pride was, that they knew full well what pride was and just because I had more education than them did not make me smarter than them. I finally told the man that it was he who was now displaying the kind of pride and arrogance which God really does hate. It only went downhill from there. The truth is, some pride is a good thing. It is pride that makes you arrogant and unteachable is a bad thing. Pride that will not allow you to admit you were wrong is a bad thing. Pride that makes you feel superior to others and look down your nose at them is bad. Pride that causes you to sever relationships rather than apologize is the very thing that God hates. But some people are so full of pride that they'd rather cause a firestorm of damage than to say, "forgive me"... and this is the kind of pride that God hates and brings about destruction because that pride takes one's thoughts far away from God and godly things.