One of the laws of nature is that to stop a force an equal and opposite force is required. I am of the opinion that similarly in the Spiritual World, the greatest sin could be defeated only with the greatest virtue. So what is the greatest virtue? The greatest virtue is what we Christians call 'the greatest commandment'. When a lawyer asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, Jesus replied, ''Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.... 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these"(Mark 12:30, 31). Jesus went on to say that all other commandments are based on these two. What does love have to do with pride, one might ask. Isn't the opposite of pride humility or meekness? The Bible tells us that humility is one of the qualities of Love. The apostle Paul's wonderful exposition of Love in his letter to the Corinthians is one of the most famous passages of the Bible. 1-Corinthians 13:4-7 says: 'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.(NIV)' The Message put it like this:
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
So how does love manage to keep us away from pride or a 'swelled head'? I believe the answers simply lies in the fact that true Love is selfless. It 'isn't always "me first," ' and it is never self-seeking. The moment we begin to realise that its not all about me, we can finally begin to move in the right direction. As always, the World has distorted God's principles into thinking that we are to love ourselves before we can love others. It teaches us to feel good or work towards feeling good about ourselves: our body, our appearance, our lifestyle; never mind the dying neighbour. Any Internet search would reveal thousands of books that fit into self-help, self awareness, and self-motivation categories. The greater we love ourselves and the harder we try to make ourselves happy, the more miserable we feel (take the like of any celebrity). It is only by giving love to others can we receive Love ourselves. and it is only by loving others more than we love ourselves can we keep away from falling into the dark pit of pride. Jesus said 'There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends' and he showed the greatest Love by laying down His life for us. Though we may never reach this greatest degree of love, but we do move a step closer every time we lay just a small part of our lives (a few hours perhaps) into loving and caring for someone as much as we love and take care of ourselves.
