Pride: Misunderstood Sin

I work at a doctor’s office. Every now and again we get some patients that we consider will not follow the physician advice. They will recommended a “plan of treatment”. Sometimes it may include a medication of some sort. When I call the patient to notify them of their abnormal blood work (or lab of some sort) they decline the “plan of treatment”. They state that they heard that the medication doesn’t work, or that someone that had that placed got worse, or someone that took that medication got fat, or they read on a website X,Y,Z etc. etc. etc. 

The physician has worked their life researching and studying this. He or she (usually) has your best interest. But many patients come in requesting something that we know will not help them. They are not interested in medical advice at all. They know what they want and they are get what THEY want. 

I know I am guilty of this with the Lord. He tells me to do _____ and I tell him that the “side effects” I will have will be to bad. Or the “surgery” won’t work well enough, OR, OR, OR.

I know that the great physician KNOWS all our needs. He KNOWS exactly the treatment we need. (I know that comparing Him to an earthly physician is not reasonable, for he is perfect)Yet, how we treat Him or react to His counsel is very prideful. 

“Pride is a very misunderstood sin, and many are sinning in ignorance. In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride-it is always considered a sin. Therefore, no matter how the world uses the term, we understand how God uses the tern so we can understand the language of holy writ and profit thereby. 

Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, are still missing. 

The central feature of pride is enmity- enmity toward God and enmity toward fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to region over us. 

Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done” “- Ezra Taft Benson Conference April 1989.

In October 2010 conference Elder Utchdorf stated,”Pride is a deadly cancer. It is a gateway sin that leads to a host of other human weaknesses. In face, it could be said that every other sin is, in essence, a manifestation of pride.”

Let us all be more full of humility. We can choose humility by receive counsel from the Lord, forgiving others, and putting Him first in our lives. 

I am trying this week particularly this week to put the Lord first to do His will. He loves me and will not lead me astray. He is the perfection physician. 

“Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.” (Alma 32:16.)