I wanted to continue this month’s theme which has been focused on pride. In my last post, When Peace Prevails I shared a personal story of how pride inhibited and entangled me in a moment of anger and frustration; I responded and reacted in a hurtful and unloving way and was unwilling to concede in the midst of it. I learned that anger opens up the door to despair but it’s pride that pulls us in. [Tweet this]

There were two takeaways that God spoke to me from this experience, which may be helpful to you when you’re caught on the perilous path of pride:

1) Repent — the moment you repent — that is, the moment you acknowledge your actions were wrong — you break the hypnotic pull of pride.

2) Dwell in the house of the Lord – Usually, our emotions, feelings, and prideful tendencies take hold of our heart when we have been distant from God, and the only remedy is to fill our heart with his word, his presence, and his peace.

In order for peace to prevail in the end, we must pursue peace from the beginning. [Tweet this]

Today, I want to talk about the other side of the coin. How are we handle situations when someone else’s pride prevails and we are on the receiving end of it?

Sharp Edges

Just the other week I bought the cutest ornamental decorations for the fall season; they’re these tiny pumpkins on branches, which actually aren’t pumpkins at all, they’re ornamental eggplants!? I was ecstatic when I bought them and couldn’t wait to get them out of the wrapper and onto my mantle. I was, however, caught off guard when I unwrapped them; as I went to grab them I suddenly felt a stinging sensation on the palm of my hand. As I looked closer at these little guys, I realized they were covered in tiny thorns – well that ruined my joy for the moment! There was nothing left to do other than patiently shave down those threatening thorns on each and every branch.

Sometimes we’re caught off guard by a stinging sensation when someone’s thorns of pride have pricked us. Our immediate reaction might be to get angry right back at them and give them a stinging sensation of their own.

“Pride is your greatest enemy, humility is your greatest friend.” -John R.W. Scott [Tweet this]

Pride usually comes about when we feel we have been treated unjustly or unfairly, Pride puffs us up and we feel justified to speak out harshly and inflict those same pains on the other person.

So back to my earlier question, how are we handle situations when someone else’s pride prevails and we are on the receiving end of it?

God tells us in Ephesians 4:2 to, handle with care.

We all have these threatening thorns don’t we? We often grow them out of a desire to protect our fragile hearts. They come in all forms, however, pride is always at the root.

As Christians we are to be Christ-like, we are called to be humble and gentle, not harsh and hurtful — even when we feel justified for it. The caveat is, we all fall short and though it may be a spouse or co-worker or relative who have pricked us this week, it may be you next week. We have to make allowance for each other’s faults and the only possible way to do this is to pursue the peace of Christ.

We all have been or will be, a victim to those threatening thorns which puncture and poke at our heart. The beautiful thing is, God sees their thorns and guess what, he sees ours too.

If we are obedient, He can use us as the tool to shave down and soften the thorns of others.

If we are willing, He will go to work on us as well — shaving down and making smooth all of our sharp edges.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 NASB

Stop and Reflect: This message was really about our heart and our reaction to others when we’ve been hurt. We all know we can’t do anything about the heart of others (besides pray) but we do have control of how we handle it.

Handling with care and making allowances for each other’s faults can only be done if we are truly walking with Christ. 

How do you react when your heart has been pricked? Are there some areas that the Lord needs to shave down? Take a walk with this and ask the Lord to reveal those areas to you.

Please feel free to share your heart in the comments below.

Thank you for visiting and God bless.

~Anita Marie