The opposite of PRIDE isn't Humility

Last Night Peggy and I went to the opera. We often do. When I see a good one (they are nearly always good) I comment. This is that. We went to see an opera from the mid 20th century by Francis Poulenc.

In French. Dialogue of the Carmelites.

The opera is based on a book of the same name recording the actual events that took place during the French Revolution. The event that ends the opera is 16 nuns (Carmelites) losing their lives at the Guillotine. It really happened. They went willingly rather than deny Jesus.

It was dramatic, not very lyrical (which means you can’t hum the tunes) and movingly staged. The last scene of the execution was wrenching.

There was a great deal of psychological drama in the play. The play is about the conflicts in facing persecution that several of the Sisters of Carmel go thru. Even facing death they chose rather to die with each other than deny Jesus. But not without fear or doubt.

It was haunting because many of the attitudes of the rabble exhibited are exactly the same we hear from the press and the atheist humanists of today. If they thought they could get away with it they would cut our heads off too. There is a war going on and Christians aren’t even aware. More than 200 million people worldwide are being persecuted to the point of losing their lives for the cause of Christ. It’s coming here too.

I am going to order a libretto of this opera. The only ones I found on the Web were in French and Spanish. My French and Spanish are kind of rusty.

This was really something in its depth. It turns out that there are actually groups in the Catholic Church that study the libretto for clues about how we deal in the human drama with persecution and when death is certain.

There is one great truth that came from the opera that when I heard it I jerked a piece of paper out of my pocket and wrote it down immediately.

The Mother Superior says to Sister Blanch of the Agony of Christ,

“The opposite of Pride is not Humility, It’s Courage, Courage in submission to the purposes of God”.

WOW!

I almost stood up and yelled Amen.

We have been taught all our Christian lives to avoid being prideful by remaining humble. That is wrong. When I hear this I immediately thought of Moses. Moses was not prideful. He really didn’t want to do this, go to Egypt, lead the people, cross the Red Sea and all that 10 commandment stuff. He would have been happier staying in the back part of the desert in the sheep biz. Then there was that burning bush thing.

God called him. God anointed him. God sent him. He went forward into the fray with the courage only found in knowing who you are in God. He wasn’t perfect but he walked in confidence in God. That is MEEKNESS. The Bible says that Moses was the meekest man alive. Yet he was brave. Humble as in self-demeaning? No, but when he was submitted to God’s purpose he was without pride.

PRIDE IS EVIL!

o Pride will keep you from witnessing.

o Pride will keep you from doing something spiritually right others might think stupid.

o Pride will keep you from charging in to confront the devil wherever he rises up when angels might fear to tread.

o Pride will inhibit you from pure worship.

o Pride will cause you to stay with tradition and religion when God is calling you to break out.

o Pride keeps people from the Baptism of the Holy Ghost (“If God wants me to speak in tongues he’ll have to make me”); Well don’t worry about it, you never will with that prideful attitude.

o Pride causes people to take the reigns from the hands of the Holy Spirit and tell him to get in the back.

o Pride will cause a man called of God to back down in the face of opposition because he might “Lose”.

What he doesn’t know, is if he is truly submitted to God, he’s already lost it all. And he has gained everything. There’s lots of talk in the Church about laying down our lives for Christ. Mostly it’s blah blah blah. When I hear some people say it, the line between misrepresentation and blasphemy is almost crossed.

The opposite of pride isn’t humility; it’s COURAGE in the Holy Spirit.

We need fewer humble people and more people with courage who operate in the Church of Jesus. Too many times humility leads to inaction from fear and pride. I did a study of the use of the words Humble and Humility in the Bible. They are nearly always humble not before one another, we are to be strong and courageous there, but humble before God. Only Jesus was said to have HUMBLED HIMSELF. I guess he did. To the cross. But it was courage.

I have this question. What would the Church in America be like if we got over ourselves, searched the word of God for his purposes, followed his order, did what the book said, and forgot what the critics howled about? We don’t. We should.

I grieve for the prideful backslidden CHINOs (Christians in name only) that populate most churches in America. When the tough times come they will run and hide like little rabbits; denying Christ and sealing their fate for hell. Pride makes them unreachable, unteachable, and unmovable. We are in such deep weeds.