Do you seek humility and battle against pride? (165-4)

Written by Barry-Werner on March 17th, 2011. Posted in Attitude, Humility, Jeremiah, Leadership Principles, Old Testament, Pride.

With successful leadership comes the danger of developing pride and arrogance. Read Jeremiah 48:26-30.

The nation of Moab was located on the East side of the Dead Sea or Salt Sea as it was known to Ancient Israel. When the 12 tribes of Israel divided the Promised Land following the escape from Egypt the land given to the tribe of Reuben bordered Moab to the North. The boundary was in constant dispute and there was almost never a lack of conflict between Israel and Moab. The people of Moab worshiped the god Chemosh and took great pride in what they felt was the wealth and military power granted to them by Chemosh.

The nation of Moab dominated several other nations when at the height of their power. Moab’s leaders read their own press clippings, were caught up in their own power, pride and arrogance and defiled and insulted the people of Israel and the one true God who claimed Israel as His own. Through Jeremiah God pronounced judgment on Moab because their leaders were driven by nothing but pride, conceit and arrogance.

The pit of pride and arrogance that Moab’s leaders fell into has the same danger to ruin leaders today. Pride and arrogance can guide leaders to think of themselves as all important and their actions become self-serving, always demonstrating their belief that they deserve special treatment even at the expense of others. Leaders with prideful attitudes can never be wrong and must always find a way to place blame on others for even the smallest error or perceived error. Prideful leaders seek popularity, power, prestige, and pleasure and their pride will drive them to cross a line from serving others to using others. They become trapped in a pattern that consumes them. Pride and arrogance are so consuming that eventually there is no action or decision large or small that is not directed by a leader’s pride.

The Bible is explicit that God hates pride and arrogance. It was Satan’s pride that caused him to turn against God. The temptation of pride is often subtle and there is usually less a decision to become prideful and more of a drift in a leader’s attitude. One of a leader’s greatest challenges will always be to seek humility and battle against pride. Wise Christian leaders continually pray for a spirit of humility and seek accountability partners that will point out even the slightest drift toward attitudes of pride and actions of arrogance.