But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
James 4:6

Pride is the confessable vice. It’s okay these days to admit that pride lurks somewhere in your heart. After all, who’s going to say, “Actually, I’m quite humble.” Isn’t that pride talking? Pride’s reputation as ubiquitous – everyone deals with it – may be leading us to confess it more readily but mostly in a general way. What we seem to lack is a willingness to interrogate our hearts, especially when we’ve sinned, to see where pride lurks.

There are a lot of ways that pride can be exposed and its influence overcome in our lives, but the process always begins with understanding God’s grace. Sam Storms’ counsel on this is among the best: “Pride is taking credit for what God has done. To know that all we have is a gift, that all we experience and enjoy is an expression of God’s goodness and not ours, to know that everything in our possession—especially our salvation—comes from the hand of God is to take the first step in defeating and dethroning pride from our hearts.”

God, I want to lean into your grace so much that I come to see how it fully surrounds me. Help me to see how little I’ve done for myself and how much you have given to me so that my eyes will be open to where pride is lurking in my heart.