A Lesson In Pride

Thursday I drove a friend to court a couple counties away and occupied one of the long, wooden hall benches while I waited. It wasn’t boring. Between me and the elevator was a 30-something man pacing anxiously. His eyes darted back and forth.   

“I’m not going to jail today,” he audibly insisted.

Just as he finally stepped into the elevator, an attorney came running down the hall and ordered him back out. (You can always tell the attorneys; they are the ones carrying big leather satchels.)

“You are going to jail if you leave. You were late for court, technically jumped bail, and the judge has just signed an arrest warrant. But if you walk back into the courtroom and apologize, I will ask for leniency, the warrant will be reversed, and we can work this out.”

All he had to do was admit he was late, apologize, and let his attorney help him. He refused. Things escalated from there.

A second attorney joined in the argument. The longer they tried to get him to do the right thing, the louder and more profane he became.

Why is it so hard for us to admit our wrongs, apologize, and ask for grace? Pride.

This week I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Karma is when we get what we deserve. Grace is when we don’t.”

This guy had two attorneys trying to keep him out of jail and he would not budge.

You might say, “At least I’ve never been arrested, or jumped bail, or shouted obscenities in a courthouse hall…” But does that make your pride any less egregious to God? Sin has no grading scale.

Alexander Pope, the 18th century poet said, “Pride is the never failing voice of fools.” And we’ve all been fools at some point when it comes to pride.

By the time pride becomes sin, it is rooted in extreme selfishness. We only feel good about ourselves when others see our greatness, when we are in charge of our lives and in control of the people and situations around us.

Sitting on the courthouse bench I heard, “The laws don’t apply to me. I’m special. What I want is more important than what others want, so it’s understandable for me to enforce my demands. My mistakes shouldn’t have consequences. If they do, there’s something wrong with the system.”

And the most dangerously prideful argument of all: “I don’t need your help.”

The two attorneys told him over and over that they wanted to keep him from making the biggest mistake of his life. Up to that moment, they could help him move in a new and healthier direction, but if he got on the elevator and left, they could not. He was looking at 36-40 months in prison.

1 Peter 5:5 says, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Out of my peripheral vision I watched one attorney slowly back away and return with a sheriff who moved in front of the elevator, deliberately replacing the second attorney who (in my opinion) was about to get punched in the nose.

If we don’t choose to humble ourselves, God will find a way to do it for us.

As soon as the man realized that the elevator wasn’t actually an option, a change fell over him. His shoulders dropped. He stared at the floor. And he followed his attorney into the courtroom.

Pride makes fools of us all.