After the Civil War, much of the South lay in ruins. People who owned mansions
in once proud cities found themselves unable to bear the cost of restoring
their homes. They said they were too poor to paint and too proud to whitewash.
Pride does often get in the way of what needs to be done. Sometimes, it even
gets in the way of things we really want to do. Any experienced minister or
counselor will tell you that often the aggrieved partner in a marriage will
say, “He (She) made a fool of me!” It tells you that someone’s pride
has been wounded. There is a good kind of pride. We take pride in our work, in
our character, in our service to humanity. That’s all right. But pride
unchecked can handicap us in many ways. Most important of all, it gets in the
way of our trusting God. Truly, “blessed are the poor in spirit.”
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