Your Greatest Hurdle

Yesterday on Twitter, someone posted a quote from C.S. Lewis. The quote caught my attention and sat with me for most of the day.

Pride is a spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment or even common sense.

So often when Trish and I share our story, people naturally focus on what was visible…the affair. But there was a cancer of heart and soul that ate away at me for years.  That cancer was pride.

What is weird is that for many of us who are prideful, our pride is actually born not out of confidence, but out of insecurity. When we are insecure, we try to convince ourselves and others just how worthy and talented and gifted we are…that posture comes across as pride. Pride is a cancer that will eat us alive.

I often take shots on our blog, when we speak, when we share our story that I’m “living in the past.” But there is something healthy about acknowledging my sickness. There is something sacred about remembering the God who can cure heart cancer.

What we have realized is that pride is the cause of so many issues. We meet with couples who are struggling in their marriage; Trisha talks to a friend that has been hurt by a friend…what it usually goes back to is pride.

Pride…

-It’s why you’re not satisfied with the house you live in

-It’s why you feel entitled to that job or that promotion

-It’s why you won’t say you’re sorry

-It’s why you talk to your wife like she’s a dog

-It’s why you pretend to be closer to God than you really are

-It’s why you spend money you don’t have to impress people you don’t even like

-It’s why you won’t forgive

-It’s why you don’t respect your husband

-It’s why you refuse to admit you’re wrong

Pride is probably your greatest hurdle to become the man or the woman that God created you to be. Pride longs to rob you, to cheat you, to convince you that life is best lived looking out for you.

It is a cancer that will one day take over your heart. The great news today is that pride’s defeat begins by recognizing its presence. It is hard to admit, but so freeing.

What does pride look like in your life, marriage, relationships?