“Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.” Proverbs 13:10
There’s a natural connection between strife and pride. Pride says, “What about me?” which encourages us to fight for favourable outcomes for ourselves. It’s no wonder there’s strife when pride is involved.
Strife happens whenever two people have different opinions and are prepared to ignore the feelings of others in insisting they are right. Tolerance happens, not when one caves into another, but when both are prepared to accept that others hold different, but equally valid opinions.
Wise people take advice. Not that all advice is good, but when we listen to others, we’re considering another point of view. It broadens our perspective and we consider other possibilities. Rarely is there a single way of understanding a situation.
Jonathan Edwards wrote an essay on Undetected Pride and pointed out seven signs of pride.
1. Fault-Finding: Pride encourages us to overlook our shortcomings and focuses on the faults of others.
2. Ministering in a Harsh Spirit: Pride encourages us to be frustrated and irritated by the failings of others and hinders us from treating them with gentleness.
3. Putting on Pretences: Pride encourages us to put forward a good outward appearance with little concern for the inward state of our heart.
4. Takes Offence Easily: Pride encourages us to protect ourselves from hurt and not trust God.
5. Presumption Before God and Man: Pride encourages us to feel entitled and aren’t sufficiently mindful of God’s awesomeness.
6. Hungry for Attention: Pride encourages us to seek attention to bolster our self-esteem rather than resting in God’s estimation.
7. Neglecting Others: Pride encourages us to only honour those who are significant people in my world.
A humble attitude reduces strife.
