Friday: Further Thought - Pride Versus Humility

Daily Lesson for Friday 17th of April 2026
Further Thought:

“The nearer we come to Jesus and the more clearly we discern the purity of His character, the more clearly we shall discern the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the less we shall feel like exalting ourselves.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Those whom heaven recognizes as holy ones are the last to parade their own goodness.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 160.

“Before honor is humility. To fill a high place before men, Heaven chooses the worker who, like John the Baptist, takes a lowly place before God. The most childlike disciple is the most efficient in labor for God. The heavenly intelligences can co-operate with him who is seeking, not to exalt self, but to save souls. . . .

“When men exalt themselves, feeling that they are a necessity for the success of God’s great plan, the Lord causes them to be set aside. . . .

“It was not enough for the disciples of Jesus to be instructed as to the nature of His kingdom. What they needed was a change of heart that would bring them into harmony with its principles. . . . The simplicity, the self-forgetfulness, and the confiding love of a little child are the attributes that Heaven values. These are the characteristics of real greatness. . . .

“The sincere, contrite soul is precious in the sight of God. He places His own signet upon men, not by their rank, not by their wealth, not by their intellectual greatness, but by their oneness with Christ.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, Pages 436, 437.

Discussion Questions:

What additional insights do the following verses have about pride and humility: Matthew 23:12; Psalms 25:9; Psalms 149:4; and James 4:6,10?
Think honestly: When did you last “parade your own goodness”? How did this impact your relationship with God or those before whom you paraded it?
What might you need to change in your life to humble yourself before God in order to strengthen your walk with Him?

Summary: Pride can be one of the greatest blocks to growing in a relationship with God. If we feel self-sufficient and don’t realize our need of this relationship, we simply won’t pursue it. In contrast, Jesus was the humblest Man on earth and the most perfect example of how to have a close relationship with God.

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In lessons like we have been having this week we often fall back on quoting a lot of scripture about how good humility is and how bad pride is. And we can all make nice statements about following Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit work on us. But in thts conclusion I want to apply what we have learned to the real world. Away from the theoretical discussions we have to live and work with real people.

I have learned that people do not change all that much during their lifetimes. I have lived in the same community which has a large population of Seventh-day Adventists for over 60 years, and my observation is that people for the most part are pretty much like what they were when I first moved here. The arrogant are still arrogant and the humble are still humble. It is not my job to change the arrogant, nor do I think it serves any useful purpose to shun them. But we live with one another and the big question is how do we do that when we are all so different?

I mentioned earlier this week the leadership conflicts in the Seventh-day Adventist Church during the 1890 – 2010 period. because the story is essentially a conflict involving pride, humility, vision, the shadow of inspiration, and manipulation. It involved perceptions of doctrine, the management of finances, the direction of the church, the meaning of inspiration, and the loss of faith of some leaders. There was no quick resolution

There are several takeaways from this study.

Pride and a strong sense of purpose can look very similar to us. What is called strong leadership may be considered as patronising pride by others.
It is complicated. Working through all the issues took a long time. Ellen White frequently had little to say on the conflict and was in Australia for nine years. Communication was slow. One lesson, applicable even today, is that conflict resolution takes time.
Even humble people sometimes have to say sorry. Not all leaders are gifted with the skill of making the right decision the first time around. It takes a lot of humility to back down.
Not everyone learns from the experience. That is sad, but a fact of life.
We may not be running a church organisation, but we still have to deal with people with different characters. Part of our own personal Christian development is learning to work with others.

Our prayer: Lord give us humble patience when interacting with others.

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Friday: Further Thought – Pride Versus Humility — 1 Comment

Maurice Ashton on April 16, 2026 at 1:57 pm said:
In lessons like we have been having this week we often fall back on quoting a lot of scripture about how good humility is and how bad pride is. And we can all make nice statements about following Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit work on us. But in thts conclusion I want to apply what we have learned to the real world. Away from the theoretical discussions we have to live and work with real people.

I have learned that people do not change all that much during their lifetimes. I have lived in the same community which has a large population of Seventh-day Adventists for over 60 years, and my observation is that people for the most part are pretty much like what they were when I first moved here. The arrogant are still arrogant and the humble are still humble. It is not my job to change the arrogant, nor do I think it serves any useful purpose to shun them. But we live with one another and the big question is how do we do that when we are all so different?

I mentioned earlier this week the leadership conflicts in the Seventh-day Adventist Church during the 1890 – 2010 period. because the story is essentially a conflict involving pride, humility, vision, the shadow of inspiration, and manipulation. It involved perceptions of doctrine, the management of finances, the direction of the church, the meaning of inspiration, and the loss of faith of some leaders. There was no quick resolution

There are several takeaways from this study.
- Pride and a strong sense of purpose can look very similar to us. What is called strong leadership may be considered as patronising pride by others.
- It is complicated. Working through all the issues took a long time. Ellen White frequently had little to say on the conflict and was in Australia for nine years. Communication was slow. One lesson, applicable even today, is that conflict resolution takes time.
- Even humble people sometimes have to say sorry. Not all leaders are gifted with the skill of making the right decision the first time around. It takes a lot of humility to back down.
- Not everyone learns from the experience. That is sad, but a fact of life.
- We may not be running a church organisation, but we still have to deal with people with different characters. Part of our own personal Christian development is learning to work with others.
Our prayer: Lord give us humble patience when interacting with others.
Reply ↓

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Friday: Further Thought – Pride Versus Humility

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Friday: Further Thought – Pride Versus Humility — 1 Comment

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