The Biggest Bus of All

My last several posts have been themed as "buses" - mistakes that I make over and over again - that were common in the books of the Old Testament prophets. Tonight I type about the biggest bus of all.

All the warnings of all the minor prophets can be summarized in two verses from Obadiah that spell out the root of all problems and the result:

• "The pride of your heart has deceived you." (1:3)
• "Shame shall cover you." (1:10)

It doesn't get a whole lot more complicated than that, yet I jump in front of this one all the time. I don't think I'm alone. While millions mimic the cry of "Pride cometh before the fall," it doesn't stop them and me from that descent. And it's tough to see in people, to really point out all the pride in all the people we come across each day, only because it is so common that it is no longer ugly. Most would agree a braggart is ugly, showing off skills whether he/she has them or not, self-promoting all the way, shamelessly stepping into a self-sponsored spotlight at all times. We point to that and call it pride, knowing we would never be so asinine, so clueless, so conceited.

But the common kind of pride, the one infecting me, is quieter, even revered. C.S. Lewis puts it this way in Mere Christianity: "The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first - wanting to be the center - wanting to be God, in fact." All that means is my prideful behavior is when I try to take control of my own life, when I call it my own, when I believe I can control it and behave in a manner that shows I believe everything in it should go my way. It's chasing dreams for me, not God. It's making money for me, not God. It's loving my wife to get something in return, loving my kids so others think I'm a good parent, doing my job well to gain a good reputation. It's doing all kinds of good things with the center of focus on me.

I like what Lewis said later in Mere Christianity as well: "In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that - and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison - you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God."

The books of the prophets repeat this message over and over again, because God's people made (and make) that mistake over and over again. And in many assorted ways, shame covers them. The book of Zephaniah does show, however, what happens when that pride is eradicated His people seek him:

"Do not fear;

Zion, let not your hands be weak.

The Lord your God in your midst, 

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing." (3:16-17)

The choice seems like an easy one.