Pride goes before a fall. Most of us know this quote, but do we realize it is a paraphrase of a biblical verse from Proverbs 16? It is a warning against pride or conceit. Don’t become too prideful or you will have an embarrassing fall.
This is not a quote against all forms of pride. It is one of 33 statements in the 16th chapter of Proverbs to remind its readers modesty and wisdom are to be preferred over pride and wealth.
Pride in the church has often been viewed as a sin. It can be. Pride can keep us at a distance from the neighbor we are called to help. We wouldn’t want to be seen with those people! What would the other neighbors say? Yet speaking of neighbors and pride, would we want to live next to someone with no pride? Chances are their house and yard would not look very nice. We all know some who would be better off with a little pride.
Pride is like so many aspects of our humanity. It can be a good thing if and when we keep it under control. If we are all about pride, we are most likely not very much about others.
June is Pride month. Some Christians criticize this because pride is seen as a sin. Others because there is nothing to be proud about if one is LGBTQ+. I find this interesting because oten their very criticism is a form of pride in not being LGBTQ+. Pride in being LGBTQ+ as I understand it is simply a way of saying one is okay with who they are and not at all the opposite of pride, ashamed.
Pride needs to be reeled in from time to time in most if not all of us. We become easily offended when we are very prideful. We, in turn, might even offend another when our pride has been hurt. The role of pride in an individual is to a form of loving oneself and caring for oneself. It is not to be something that puts us above another or separates us from some. It is, instead, to be something we use moderately to care for ourselves so we can show care to our neighbors.
In other words, a nicely kept property can be more than a work of pride. It can be a mark of respect for the neighbors and the neighborhood. A decently kept appearance can be so we do not appear at all foreboding to some other.
I’m not certain if pride goes before a fall, but I am certain we Christians are not to be prideful that we are or are not proud. Certainly many of us have been made humble in our pride. I am not sure that is God’s work or God’s retribution. I think it is more our own ability to fool ourselves into thinking we are somehow above being a human. Pride month is just a way to say we can all be proud of our own personal humanity.