The Age of Arrogance

 As a young boy my mother used to have a code that she would speak quietly to me when I began to speak or act in ways that displayed an overabundance of pride. She simply would look at me a mouthed these three letters – S. P. S. I knew what these letters meant – Self Pride Stinketh! It also meant to stop bragging, praise others, and speak less. If I ignored her silent admonition, then I was escorted out of the room and her message to me was made plainer! How childish to have to have your mother put a curb on your tongue.

     Is this just a problem for immature children? A casual glance at culture would suggest that S.P.S. needs to be whispered into the ears of many adults in our culture. Meryl Streep is a successful actress who’s received numerous Academy Award nominations (winning three), and Golden Globe Award nominations (winning eight). Some time ago she expressed her view of the movie industry in an interview with Helena de Bertodano in the Daily Telegraph (London), "It's sort of exhausting, this self-congratulatory atmosphere in which the movie community lives. It's unbearable. We're not that important in the world, but we certainly all think we are…I shouldn't talk about it, I mean I'm really grateful that my work is recognized…but boy, we've gotten a little bloated. It's so grand and the outfits are so incredible and the critique of how everybody looks and the desperation of people to make an impact—it really gets to me." Perhaps Meryl Streep was whispering in the ears of Hollywood’s culture a sort of S.P.S. Does anyone in the industry pay attention?

     Arrogance that is birthed out of pride is a malady that has existed since the fall of Lucifer when he rebelled against the God of heaven and was cast out of His presence for all eternity. There is no place in the universe for an alternate God. One person observed, “Pride in who we are or what we own or what we have accomplished likewise causes us to put ourselves in the place only God should occupy.” Not a wise direction to go, just ask Lucifer!

     Pride and its offspring, arrogance, is the poison that paralyzes and distorts our thinking. In such a state we are likely to foolishly think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, and conversely think more disparagingly in our estimation of others. The Apostle Paul had to issue an S.P.S. to a church he loved, “I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us” (Romans 12:3 NLT). Pastor Stewart Brisco summarized the idea this way, “Don’t overthink or underthink who you are – be honest!” Too often we can fall into the trap of building ourselves up, by tearing other people down. That is just another way of allowing arrogance to unleash its destructive ways.

     The antidote for arrogance is to heed the wisdom that James gives to a church suffering trials and oppression. He wrote, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor” (4:10 NLT). When the honor in life comes from the Lord, who knows all things and people perfectly, that surpasses any honor that could be given by people, or honor we bestowed upon ourselves. People who think they know the whole story about us most likely don’t. Even our personal estimations can be jaded by the deceptive hearts that we all have. The Lord told the prophet Jeremiah “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve” (17:9-10). The Lord provides honest honor!     

     Let God pass out the accolades that really matter. We need not bestow them upon ourselves. Jesus told a story in Matthew 25:14-29 about the kingdom of heaven and rewards. In the story the ones who invested as they should were praised and rewarded by the master, “‘You have been faithful in handling this small amount,’ he told him, ‘so now I will give you many more responsibilities.’” (21, 23). The one who pridefully relied upon his own wisdom was not complemented but condemned. The master summarizes, “The man who uses well what he is given shall be given more, and he shall have abundance. But from the man who is unfaithful, even what little responsibility he has shall be taken from him’” (29). There was an example of proper pride in the reporting by his first two servants. They simply reported the facts of the matter. The last servant, proud of his shrewd thinking, was condemned.

     From time to time in my life, pride and arrogance still rises to the surface of my interactions with people. God has graciously brought back to me my mother’s whisper, “S.P.S.” In those moments I am reminded to stop bragging, praise others, and speak less. It may be good for each of us to think about that.