“for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Phil. 4:11, NKJV)
We are currently discussing the twelve specific fruits of which the root of pride can be discerned.
The third fruit of pride can at first glance resemble the second fruit, selfcentredness, and yet is different, and elucidates another facet of the fruit. This fruit is the pressing desire to constantly be the centre of attention, to be the focus of everything that happens around you. This person will always direct the attention, albeit in subtle ways, toward themselves. You will speak to them, telling them about having slept badly the night before, and this person will immediately start recounting their own trouble with sleeping. If the conversation veers into general territory, he/she will always try to bring it back to their own life and experiences, and then enumerate on that for ages. They want all the attention all the time, and if they can’t have it, they are moody and often withdraw from conversation.
This fruit thus manifests from the deeply rooted, unquenchable desire to be the centre of attention, to lay claim to the time of others, etc. Floyd McClung calls it “a demanding spirit”. The pride of this person manifests in the fact that they are always discontent, always wanting more – no wonder they often struggle with a spirit of lust, which is not something that just pertains to sexual matters, but is a larger indication of an unquenchable thirst for everything they think they lack.
Believers who have this fruit of pride will often complain about what they do not have, what has not been done for them, what they have not received, what they ought to be given. They generally feel as if they have been duped out of things they rightfully should have.
In the position in which they consistently see themselves, they actually display their grotesque sense of pride. They will thus constantly hold onto what they perceive to be their right to certain things, and be able to, in great detail, motivate why they deserve a particular thing. They are thus also the ones who will often grab the best or most beautiful thing first, claiming it for themselves.
The Biblical guideline on this matter is found in Phil. 4:12: “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” This guideline is at the basis of a state of contentment: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” Pride of this nature is only destroyed by an attitude like Paul’s that we find in Phil. 4:11 – “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content”.
- Selah: Is this fruit perhaps present within you?
- Read: 16-18; 1 John 1.
- Memorise: 1 John 1:9.
- For a more in-depth understanding: Read Guy Hersberger’s The Way of the Cross in Human Relationships.
