Pride

[Brad Fox]

Following is part of the lyric for a song by Lee Greenwood:

 

Well, there’s pride in every American heart,
and it’s time to stand and say:

I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt, I love this land, God bless the U.S.A.

 

Perhaps you’ve followed a car with a bumper sticker that says:

During my youth, when the Vietnam war was raging, this motto served as a dividing line between those who supported the war, and those who didn’t.  You were either proud, or you were un-American!  Being a U.S. Navy sailor, I came down on the pride side.

 

Years later, after traveling the world and seeing how desperate some people are in their life situations, I realized that just being American didn’t entitle me to be proud of it.  It’s a matter of God’s grace.  It seems to me that there is nothing in my DNA that makes me better or more worthy of blessing than an African, Mexican or East Indian.  Many of the world’s peoples haven’t had the opportunities that our unique history and national resources afford us.  It’s not a matter of one country being better or worse than another, but of being different.  Sure, we have a democratic government, a more secure defense system; a more robust economy; better education and health care, etc.  But other countries perhaps have a better “group ethic” than America does.  They live, work, and learn more interdependently.  Some are also more intimately dependent on everything that flows from the hand of God.  They are more dependent on Him because they have to live from hand to mouth each day, and they fully rely upon God to provide them their daily bread.  Many Americans don’t seem to feel the need to rely on God.  We are an independent, entitled, “self-made” population.  We emphasize our Bill of Rights, not our responsibilities to the group.  Why would we need God?

 

Contrast these attitudes with that of Christ in Philippians 2:5-8 (the Message translation)

"Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion."

The apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:3 (NIV):  For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."

And in the Message version of the same verse:  “I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him."

A verse that was given to me as a child by my grandmother and mother seems appropriate here.  It has driven and inspired me my entire life!  It is from Luke 12:48 (NIV translation): 

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

Many is the time I’ve had to confront the reality of this verse!  I’ve had to go against my own short-term self interests by investing my time, talent and treasure in others.  Initially, it’s counterintuitive:  why should I look out after the needs of others?  Shouldn’t I be putting away material goods for my own well being, and that of my family? 

 

But imagine a society where each person looked out for the interests of others.  Would I have to shoulder responsibilities for people who didn’t have my resources, education, or life experiences?  Definitely!  But it’s also possible that others could look out for my best interests too!

 

I’ve tried this on a small, personal scale and have found that following this pattern of giving in response to personal blessings usually boomerangs right back into my lap!  No matter how I try to bless others, God always matches and exceeds my blessing and returns it to me.  Oswald Chambers once said “God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself.  It must be given back to Him so He can make it a blessing to others.”  I assume he got that from Genesis 12:3, where God is talking directly with Abraham.  He said:

 

“I will make you into a great nation

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.”

 

Hundreds of years later God spoke with the Israelites as they were walking to the Promised land.  He (God) warned them that blessings could become a curse.  He said in Deuteronomy 30:19  “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”  One tends to think that two things were offered by God; one which could be clearly seen as good and the other evil.  But I wonder if the true meaning is that God provided one good thing, and it was how people used it that either made it a curse, or a blessing.  An example:  America is very rich in food.  One could easily state that food is, in general, a blessing.  But we’ve used food in ways that have been very dishonoring of the gift that it is from God.  As a consequence, food has become a curse for America.  You can name any of a number of other aspects of life that can become a blessing or a curse:  sex, entertainment, wealth, sports, marriage, reproductive biology, etc.  If we hold on to them too tightly, and place our confidence in these gifts, then we miss the whole point of developing a relationship with God.  We become cursed by our dependence on these things for happiness.  Earlier in Deuteronomy, Moses had warned the Israelites what to do with their blessings in Palestine:

 

 After a meal, satisfied, bless God, your God, for the good land he has given you.  Make sure you don't forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God.  (Deuteronomy 8:10-14)

 

So it appears that American pride is misplaced at best (God made us what we are) and self-damning at its worst (we can curse ourselves with misused blessings).  Like the manna in the Exodus desert, we need to collect what we need each day, make the best use of it by sharing it with others, and not hoard it for our own use.  Manna rotted in baskets; pride rots within us.