Proverbs 13:10 (NLT)
10 Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are
wise.
Pride makes men impatient of contradiction in either
their opinions or their desires, impatient of competition and rivalship,
impatient of contempt, or any thing that looks like a slight, and impatient of
concession, and receding, from a conceit of certain right and truth on their
side; and hence arise quarrels among relations and neighbours, quarrels in
states and kingdoms, in churches and Christian societies. Men will be revenged,
will not forgive, because they are proud. [Matthew Henry’s Commentary]
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Get a friend to tell you
your faults, or better still, welcome an enemy who will watch you keenly and
sting you savagely. What a blessing such an irritating critic will be to a wise
man, what an intolerable nuisance to a fool!”
Of all the sins, pride is one of the easiest sins to fall
into. Pride caused Satan to fall from the grace of God, because he began to
believe he was just as great as God. For most of us pride will often take hold
when we start to accomplish something. We may have had help. We may have had
God leading us in the right direction. However our own flesh takes over and
says, “Look what I have done.”
Pride will cause one to ignore the advice of another,
which is why the proverb says, “Those who take advice are wise.” We humble
ourselves when we listen to others and consider their advice; for their wisdom
may point out the flaws in our thinking. But when we ignore others due to
pride, we are open to suffer our own consequences.
When we truly are humble, we open the way for God's
promotion in our lives. Instead of having to promote ourselves, we life Him up.
The result of this is that people are ministered to. As a reward for our
humility and faithfulness, God raises us up.
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