我的最愛*聖經金句

sharing by Cecil

Proverbs 9:10
The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the 
Holy One is understanding.

箴言 9:10
敬畏耶和華是智慧的開端; 
認識至聖者便是聰明。

Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, 
then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.

箴言 11:2
驕傲來，羞恥也來； 謙遜人卻有智慧。


When we talk of pride, often we think of those who boasts of their abilities and achievements, who looks down upon others, who are generally self-centred and self-righteous. And then most of us (with the exception of those truly humble few) will be treated to a nasty shock to learn that we too are very, very proud creatures. Indeed pride is perhaps the easiest sin to fall for and comes in all sorts of packaging that often leads to deeds of ungrace. Pride is one of the greatest barriers between God and us; it prevent us from listening to His ways, to fully trust in Him in His decisions, and give glory to Him in everything we do and have.

Whilst I knew I was so very far from perfect, I never thought myself to be proud seeing as I always had fallen short of others in most areas of my life, resulting in a pretty low self-esteem and image. Imagine then the blow I felt when I finally realized that even the deprived could be very prideful; that the less some people have, the more desperate they hold onto their things, and the bigger their reaction when said things are lost and their pride wounded. Because pride is often a cloak of our weakness and shame, and even if we are lost we comfort ourselves by comparing with those worse than us. Even though I was hardly at the top, I had taken pride in my Christian background, my English, my “humility” and wanted nothing more than attention and praises for these things.

The tighter we hold onto things that make us proud of ourselves, the more it hurts when God stripes them away to expose our core helpless nature. But if we can acknowledge our faults and wrongdoings, accept the fact that some consequences resulted from our arrogant ignorance instead of just complain, only then can we learn and grow. That’s why these 2 verses are memorable for me, not only as a constant reminder, but also that in times when I struggle with putting down my pride and admit my faults honestly, I can find comfort in the fact that I can earn something more precious and durable from the humiliating experience – godly wisdom and understanding that enables us to focus on the more godly things in life. And also the fact that God’s grace is worth much more than my petty pride.