1. The Danger of Pride Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs
The Danger of Pride
Proverbs

2. What Pride Is
Pride is perhaps the chief of all vices. There is no sin that you can commit that does not involve pride.
C. S. Lewis said this about pride: “There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it in ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.” (Mere Christianity, p.109)

3. What Pride Is Not
We must be careful not to confuse pride with confidence.
Pride can result in overconfidence, but someone can be confident without being sinfully proud.
For example, when Saul questioned whether David was fit to battle Goliath, David exhibited confidence based on what the Lord had done for him in the past. (1Sam 17:34-37)
The Bible sometimes uses the word “pride” to describe a warm hearted admiration that someone feels toward another person. Such an admiration is normally not sinful, but virtuous:
Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children. (17:6 - NIV)
I [Paul] am acting with great boldness toward you [Corinthians]; I have great pride in you… (2Cor 7:4a)

4. What Pride Is Pride is the need to feel superior to others
A proud person looks down on other people in order to feel better about himself:
There are … those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth; those whose eyes are ever so haughty, whose glances are so disdainful. (30: NIV)
A proud person will criticize others to make themselves look better by comparison:
Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent. (11:12 )
Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only having more of it than the next guy.

5. What Pride Is Pride is self-obsession, a preoccupation with ourselves:
The proud person is constantly aware of himself, always thinking about how I’m doing, how I’m being treated, etc.
A proud person will “pat themselves on the back” for something good they’ve done; realize that they’re being proud and confess it to God; and then turn around and be proud of the fact that they are so good at repenting of pride!
What we call “low self esteem” is often just another form of pride. Someone with low self esteem is feeling sorry for themselves, but they are still focusing on themselves!

6. What Pride Will Do to You
Pride will often cause you to inappropriately exalt yourself, only to be humiliated later:
Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence, and do not claim a place among great men; it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman. (25:6-7 - NIV)
Pride will keep you from being able to receive good advice.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. (12:15)
Pride puts you in direct opposition to God and in the end, it will utterly destroy you:
The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. (16:5)
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (16:18)

7. The Danger of Pride How does this apply to our kids?
Ways pride might manifest itself in kids:
Thinking they should have whatever they want
Thinking they should be the center of attention
Having no regard for others
Acting presumptuously
Unwilling to listen to good advice
Humility is the opposite of pride. Kids show humility by:
Being willing to share
Taking an interest in and showing respect for others
Being willing to defer to others
By recognizing their need for wise counsel

8. Training in Righteousness
By thinking through how some of the major themes in the book of Proverbs apply to our kids, I think you can see how practical this section of scripture is in giving us the wisdom that we need to train our children in righteousness.
In addition to the book of Proverbs, I would also suggest that Christian parents study and think about the various lists of positive and negative character traits that are given to Christians in the New Testament and apply those to their kids.
To show you how this would look, I plan for us to spend the next few weeks looking at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and thinking through how the characteristics listed there would apply to our kids.

9. 1 Corinthians 13 – the “Love” Chapter
1 Corinthians 13 is sometimes referred to as the “love chapter”.
The Apostle Paul devoted this entire chapter to teaching about the importance of genuine Christian love because love was the ultimate solution to all of the problems that were going on in the Corinthian church.
We will be looking at verses 4-7 where Paul gives a list of the character traits that a loving person exhibits.

10. 1 Corinthians 13 – the “Love” Chapter
In the ESV we read:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1Cor. 13:4-7)
Like most modern English translations, the ESV translates this passage as if it used adjectives to describe the nature of love ‘timelessly,’ e.g., love is patient; love is kind; etc.
But in the original Greek, the nature of love is expressed by Paul in a series of verbs which show how love behaves.

11. 1 Corinthians 13 – the “Love” Chapter
In other words, the original reads something more like this:
Love waits patiently, love shows kindness. Love does not burn with envy; does not brag – is not inflated with its own importance. It does not behave with ill-mannered impropriety; is not preoccupied with the interests of the self; does not become exasperated into pique [irritation or anger]; does not keep a reckoning up of evil. Love does not take pleasure at wrongdoing but joyfully celebrates the truth. It never tires of support, never loses faith, never exhausts hope, never gives up. (Thiselton translation of 1Cor.13:4-7)