Pride and Contempt

“He also told his parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.” Luke 18:9

J.Bridges reminds us that seeing pride in others is so much clearer and easier than to see it in oneself. The outworking of pride can be very obvious at times – i.e. boasting in your abilities to others that one will continuously desires to draws attention to one’s self. Sometimes it is not so obvious as the outworking of pride may not be so threatening to others. For example, something that I battle frequently is receiving complements from others at work (as well as other areas). When others encourage or thank me for something that I did for them, I often try to downplay it and respond quickly with an encouragement of my own (which sadly enough it may not be so genuine or well-thought out) as though I must return the favor. This is a hidden form of pride – false humility.

But what about those prideful lies inside of us that entice us to think we are better than others in _____ (you fill’n the blanks). In the book of Luke, Jesus warns us through the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14), that our self-righteousness blinds us from the reality of our sins, and therefore relying on own merit of being justified before God. But the shocking word here is ‘contempt.’ In verse 9, those people (most likely the Pharisees) “trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.” (Luke 18:9)

The definitions of the word contempt are listed below:

–noun

1.	the feeling with which a person regards anything considered mean, vile, or worthless; disdain; scorn.

2.	the state of being despised; dishonor; disgrace.

3.	Law. a. willful disobedience to or open disrespect for the rules or orders of a court (contempt of court) or legislative body. b. an act showing such disrespect.

Now I’m no lawyer but I know that in court, showing contempt in front of a judge can have severe consequences since it implies that you are in total disrespect to the judge and to the legal system. In the same way, those are the implications of self-righteous ones; it is not only executing one’s self-justification before God, it is taking an offense to God with a defiant fist held up in the air shouting, “I’m good enough for my own salvation and I don’t need a Savior to depend on!” And yes, it is also contempt to others as well, which is to disdain or despising everyone else. But we must foremost understand that self-righteous heart in form of pride offends God and bruises His love for us in Christ. And as one of many consequences of it, we turn out often hating others because of it. It’s THAT subtle and deadly.

Pride. No wonder God hates it (Proverbs 16:5).