Down from the Pedestal The Gravity of Pride

If you have ever felt utterly exhausted by the unending need to prove yourself—to your boss, your family, or the digital audience of the internet—you are likely dealing with more than just burnout or a busy schedule. You may be experiencing the silent effects of spiritual "carbon monoxide." Like that lethal gas, pride is entirely silent, completely invisible, and absolutely deadly. It rarely enters a room waving a red flag to announce its presence; instead, it fills the spaces of our hearts until we find ourselves spiritually breathless, gasping for a grace we have unknowingly pushed away. We often imagine pride as a loud, arrogant personality trait—the person talking too much at a dinner party or the narcissist demanding the spotlight. However, the source of our exhaustion is usually a much subtler, more deep-seated spiritual disease. At its root, pride is the attempt to dethrone God and center the entire universe on ourselves. It is a fundamental orientation of the heart that convinces us our opinions matter most, our struggles are the uniquely hardest, and our victories are entirely self-made. To find real rest, we must learn the counter-intuitive art of the "downward way." We must step down from the unstable pedestal of self-exaltation and discover the profound abundance that exists only at the foot of the cross.