Less of Me, More of You- How to Tackle the Spirit of Pride
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Imagine that you are standing in front of a mirror. But this mirror doesn’t merely reflect your own likeness, it reflects the degree of likeness of the One in Whose image you were created. Look closely. Whom do you see? Is it a perfect reflection of yourself staring back at you, or a growing likeness of your Creator? And ask yourself this; Do you like what you see?
“We were created in God’s very own, perfect image;
to love, and be loved perfectly, by a perfect God.”
As daughters of the King, our greatest attribute is to allow Christ to be seen in us. The difficulty with this is that we often fall prey to the spirit of pride.
“Less of me, more of You.” This has been my prayer for the last few years. Because, when I first began to look in that mirror, I did not like what I saw. The reflection looking back at me, was deeply rooted in pride and in selfishness.
In the beginning though, the more I prayed this, the more He revealed to me, my prideful spirit. And it was a bit of a conundrum, to be sure. I so desperately longed to be free of my prideful spirit but, the more He showed to me of it, the more resistant I became in letting it go.
Somehow, it felt like I would be letting go a part of myself; almost like I would be dying to myself. Which, I discovered in the end, is exactly what “less of me” needed to look like if I wanted “more of Him”…..
Andrew Murray, in his book, Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness, says, “Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you.”
Beloved daughters, if we long for Jesus to come fully alive within us, then we must allow Him to have full reign within our hearts. And the only way He can have that full reign, is if we let go of the spirit of pride, the spirit of selfishness, that dwells within us.
Louie Giglio shares,
“But to mean it when I say that I want my life to count for His glory is to drive a stake through the heart of self – a painful and determined dying to me that must be a part of every day I live.”
This “dying to self” is the only way that we will ever become the reflection of Christ Jesus, that we were intended to be. It is painful, and it is difficult but, Oh! The results of becoming less like ourselves and more like Jesus will far outweigh the struggle it will entail to achieve it.
How then, do we do this?
We must come to the Lord with a heart of confession. You see, according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
“In confession occurs the breakthrough of the Cross. The root of all sin is pride. I want to be my own law, I have a right to my self, my hatred and my desires, my life and my death. The mind and flesh of man are set on fire by pride; for it is precisely in his wickedness that man wants to be as God. Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation. It hurts, it cuts a man down, it is a dreadful blow to pride…In the deep mental and physical pain of humiliation before a brother – which means, before God – we experience the Cross of Jesus as our rescue and salvation. The old man dies, but it is God who has conquered him. Now we share in the resurrection of Christ and eternal life.”
I love the profound simplicity of this instruction! The very way to begin overcoming the spirit of pride within our lives, is to cut it off at the knees; to embrace humility and bow our knees before the Lord. And as Dietrich Bonhoeffer suggests, to confidently confess our struggle with pride to a trusted, spirit-filled friend, is the profoundest form of humiliation and a dreadful blow to our prideful spirits.
James 5:16 tells us to “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
In confession, we find healing. In confession, we find restoration. And in confession, we ultimately find freedom. You see, our pride is what keeps us separated from God. And our pride, whether we realize it or not, holds us in bondage.
“Because mankind was created in the image of God, the only way we can experience true freedom, is by living in communion with Him.
Excerpt from: Finding True Freedom
As I have searched my heart these past few years with the intention of becoming more like Jesus, and less like me, I have discovered this truth. The initial reflection of myself I saw looking back at me in that mirror, was not the real me at all. It was the old me. The me that was supposed to have died when I surrendered my life and my heart to Jesus. That reflection was a false likeness of the real me, the me I was supposed to be in Jesus. In letting go the spirit of pride; in dying to my selfish tendencies; and in surrendering my stubborn heart to Jesus and letting Him come more and more alive within me, now what I see looking back at me in that mirror, is a true reflection of who I am, or at the very least, the me I am becoming; the real me; the me that I am created to be in Jesus, rather than the me that was bound up in the spirit of pride.
And you know what?
I like this reflection of me so much better. This reflection of me, is becoming more and more like Jesus.
If, like me, you long for a reflection that mirrors Jesus, might you consider praying with confidence, this simple prayer?
Precious Jesus,
I acknowledge that I am created in Your perfect image, to bare Your likeness. I confess that I have allowed my selfishness and my pride to hinder the reflection of You, that I am created to shine. Forgive me, Jesus. Help me to surrender these prideful tendencies at the cross where Your perfect blood was shed to give me life. True life! And, instead of my trying to live within my old self, help me to come FULLY ALIVE in You, as You come FULLY ALIVE within me. Let me look less like me, and more like You.
I am your beloved daughter.
Amen.