It's such a tragedy to watch how a once humble (1 Sam. 10:9) very righteous young man can become distracted by popularity, fold in on himself, grossly inflate his ego (1 Sam. 15:12) and eventually become so embittered to God and His chosen servants that his heart turns murderous.(1 Sam. 18:7-10)
In 1 Sam. 15:17 - the prophet chastens Saul reminding him of the importance of humility saying, "When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?" Samuel also informs Saul that because of his sins, he'll be replaced by another and lose his position. (1 Sam. 15:22-26)
There is an amazing talk that I think goes perfectly with this story that gives a remedy, some words of counsel, that can help us prevent the same type of downfall as Saul! It was given 12 years ago by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf called, "Pride and the Priesthood".
He says, "Pride is a switch that turns off priesthood power. Humility is a switch that turns it on...When our hearts are filled with pride, we commit a grave sin, for we violate the two great commandments. Instead of worshipping God and loving our neighbor, we reveal the real object of our worship and love—the image we see in the mirror. Pride is the great sin of self-elevation. It is for so many a personal Rameumptom, a holy stand that justifies envy, greed, and vanity."
If humility is the key to overcome pride access God's power... what is humility??
He goes on to say, "Some suppose that humility is about beating ourselves up. Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman."
Then this increadible plea! You can hear it in his voice that he's begging us to listen.
"My dear brethren [and sisters], there are so many people in need whom we could be thinking about instead of ourselves. And please don’t ever forget your own family, your own wife. There are so many ways we could be serving. We have no time to become absorbed in ourselves."
I love this! The Savior promised that if we let go of our lives, lose ourselves for His sake, we'll find ourselves! (Matt 10:39)
C.S. Lewis warned, “The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first - wanting to be the centre - wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex, but that is a mistake...what Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they 'could be like Gods' - could set up on their own as if they had created themselves - be their own masters - invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come...the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”
And so, the great remedy to the ugly vice of pride is letting Christ increase in our hearts while we ourselves decrease. (John 3:30) Apply His teachings, seek to obey His words through His inspired servants! Shed the heavy burden of our ego, our image, our need for popular approval and settle in to the peace of mind and heart that is only found when we are nestled in Christ. (John 16:33)
-Alicia
