Two books in the Bible that have quite a lot to say about pride are Psalms and Proverbs (although there are plenty of other books in God's Word that deal with it as well). For today's Pride Month devotion, I am going to turn once again to the Book of Psalms. Here is the passage we'll be examining:
"The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?" (Psalm 12:3-4)
A tongue that speaks proud things is essentially a tongue that boasts. Many people brag to glorify themselves. They don't always brag directly about themselves though. For instance, a mother who boasts about her child's proficiency in something is still glorifying herself indirectly, because the child's accomplishments reflect on her as a mother. So with her words she might say, "My son is the smartest boy in the school!" or "My daughter is the best dancer in her ballet school!", but behind that, her meaning is, "I'm such a great mother to have raised kids as brilliant as these". In fact, parents who push their children into certain things and drive them to win are doing to because they want the reflected glory of their child's achievements. Or when somebody boasts about their sports team, they are indirectly glorifying themselves by dint of being a supporter of that team. They want some of the team's glory to rub off on them. Why do people get so wildly excited when their team wins a major championship? Because as supporters, the team's glory rubs off on them, and they want to bask in that vicarious glory. Conversely, you see people getting angry when their team loses an important game because of wounded pride. Now the team's shame is also reflected on them to some extent, and that hurts their pride. Moreover, the supporters of the other team can now gloat over them. More injury to pride.
However, plenty of people also do talk themselves up. The late boxer Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) uttered one of the most famous boasts of modern times when he said simply, "I'm the greatest!" When the Washington Redskins won the 1983 Super Bowl against the Miami Dolphins, running back John Riggins, that year's Super Bowl MVP, said in an interview after the game, "Ron (Reagan) may be President, but I'm the king". Donald Trump was renowned for his boasting while President of the United States. On Fox and Friends for instance, he said, "I would give myself an A+" when asked for an assessment of his presidency. Concerning COVID-19, he said in January 2020, "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China. It's going to be just fine." (That one certainly didn't age well.) He had a rather high opinion of his intelligence too, saying on one occasion, "Sorry, losers. My IQ is the highest and you all know it." And that is just scratching the surface of all the boastful things Mr Trump has said about himself. You may chuckle reading some of these quotes, but God is not amused by such bragging, because all pride is offensive to Him.
A more 21st-Century version of boasting is virtue signalling. For example, "I stopped eating meat because I really care about climate change". (The logic of that being, meat comes from cows, cows break wind, this contributes to the "carbon footprint", and basically we're all going to die in a few years because all those cows passing wind are going to cause catastrophic changes to the climate. Never mind that cows have been around for over 6,000 years now, and the earth has remarkably managed to survive their flatulence all this time.) Or the trend of "taking a knee", which is a way of saying "I'm against racism". However, it is also a way of saying "What a good person I am - please admire me for my stand against racism". Virtue signalling is not only a form of boasting, but very often involves hypocrisy. But in any case, the aim is to make oneself appear righteous before men and thereby receive their applause. While the term virtue signalling is not in the Bible, the concept certainly is. "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward." (Matthew 6:1-2) Verse 2 is where we get the term "blowing your own trumpet", which is exactly what virtue signalling is. Pride underscores every act of virtue signalling. It's all about putting up a front of righteousness in front of men: "And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:15) Virtue signallers, you might be able to impress other people (although many can see through it), but God knows the true state of your hearts and what your real motives are.
There will come a time, however, when God is going to silence all tongues that speak proud things. Also note what is said about "flattering lips". Just as the Bible does not have one good word to say about pride, it also has nothing good to say about flattery. The thing about flattery is that it is insincere. "They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak." (Psalm 12:2) People who flatter say one thing, but in their hearts they have another agenda altogether. "A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet." (Proverbs 29:5) One of the things flattery does is inflate pride. A person who has their pride inflated by flattery will tend to like the flatterer as a result. Consequently, they will be more inclined to trust the flatterer, and then the flatterer will have that person where they want them. In reality, flattery is bait to lead you into a trap. And what makes you take that deadly bait? PRIDE. Don't fall for it.
Notice that proud people believe their words alone will give them some sort of victory, and sadly they are often right. Why do people believe so many lies today? Because of the WORDS spoken by proud people who say, "Who is lord over us"? Such people answer to no one but themselves. In the end however, they will answer to God for all their bragging, and flattering, and evil words. When they stand before the Great White Throne to give account for everything they have said and done, their boasting mouths will be stopped. All their bragging that has so impressed men will count for nothing when they stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a person with a tongue that speaks proud things, repent and believe on Christ today. Turn your boasting into cries for mercy. Use your tongue to praise God instead of yourself. Humble yourself before God while there is still time, because one day, regardless of how much bragging you do, your time will be up. Which is now also the case with this post.
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