Is pride good or bad?
No offense, if you are a bumper sticker aficionado. Truly, most of the stickers I see are harmless and some are amusing or fun. Sure there are others that are plenty offensive, but whatever, it is just a silly sticker. Best not to let it get the best of you.
Still, often enough I see a bumper sticker that strikes me as just plain stupid. The latest one said: “Pain is temporary. Pride is forever.” Sure the underlying premise of this is no pain, no gain, which is all well and good. But I think it is poor word choice throwing the word pride in there. How has pride turned into something to be valued?
Since When Is Pride A Good Thing?
I think Jesus made it pretty clear that humility is good and pride is bad. Now of course there are different types of pride, and it can maybe overlap some with other constructs like confidence or strength, but at its core, pride is sin.
Maybe the easiest trap to fall into is pride in country, or where you are from. I get it. Your environment affects who you are and molds you into the person you are. Maybe that partially explains why so many people are proud of their country. I think at its core, pride in country is really pride in oneself.
Think about it. Nobody has any control of where they are born or where they spend the most formative parts of their lives (ages 15-20 years). All of that is a direct result of who your parents. It just seems silly to me.
I am not immune it by any means. There is so much I love about the U.S., and I am quick to defend what I feel are one-sided critiques of it. But I won’t say it is the best country on earth or anything like that. That is personal opinion.
If you take a step back, every country and society is both great and flawed in similar ways. After all each country is defined by its people and all people are creatures capable of great good and great evil.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/is_pride_really_a_sin
https://saddlebackleather.com/signs-of-pride
https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-key-bible-verses-on-pride/