Proverbs 30:13. There are those—how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift!
Here is Agur’s third description of the wicked generation. Do you remember the first two? First, a wicked generation curses their parents. Second, they are hypocrites, clean on the outside but filthy on the inside. In today’s verse, they are proud with lofty eyes that look down on others. They think less of others. They always think that they are the most important person in the room.
In his Proverbs commentary, Hebrew scholar Derek Kidner suggests that these descriptions of the wicked generation are building. First, as a child there is no respect for those in authority. As an adult this disrespect becomes self-deception. I am righteous, you are not. This leads to the lifting of the eyelids. Lofty eyes of pride that not only exalt the self, but debase those considered to be of lesser value.
This person overlooks the needy. They disdain those who disagree with them, those they judge as less than worthy. This person is usually divisive, proud, a know-it-all, a manipulator, a gas-lighter, in general they have a very real superiority problem.
Most of us think that we have an inferiority problem, that we think too low of ourselves. This is how the world has diagnosed us. The biggest problem in our society, they tell us, is low self-esteem. But I can’t think of too many verses in the Bible that address low self-esteem as mankind’s problem. I can’t recall too many Sunday School stories of someone sinning because of their low self-esteem, can you?
But pride? Literally every book of the Bible addresses our pride, either directly or indirectly. Pride, high self-esteem, was the original sin. Mankind does not have a low self-esteem problem; they have a pride problem. Lofty eyes that look down on others. Defensiveness. The need to be right all the time. Intolerance for differing ideas. The tendency to compare your good deeds with those of others. Lofty eyes. Even our insecurities are often in pride, the pride of rejecting what God says about us.
Jesus diagnosed mankind’s pride problem when he told this parable about two different men who went to the temple to pray. One had lofty eyes and one had lowly eyes.
Luke 18:9-14. 9He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men…even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Which man are you?
Which man can you be in Christ?
The cross of Christ leaves no room for pride in the Christian life. The same cross was suffered by Christ for all sinners, you and me included. Each one of us can benefit from praying one simple prayer every day – God be merciful to me a sinner.
You: Where can you identify your pride at work on a daily basis?Are you keeping score like the Pharisee?
You in Christ: How does knowing that Christ had to die for you, just like he did for everyone else, cure you of your pride?
Christ in you: Practice rooting out your pride today with God’s mercy. Where is God’s grace at work in you?
Pray: God, be merciful to me, a sinner! Amen.
To Live is Christ 