Pride

 There are a lot of shades of meaning in the word "pride." We talk about needing to "take pride in our work." We talk about "being proud of people." We talk about having "wounded pride" when we make a mistake. We tell people to "swallow their pride" when they won't listen to wisdom. We tell people that "pride comes before a fall." So you've got good, bad, and ugly undertones in reading the word pride. It can be something we ought to do, like God in creation looking at all He had made and calling it good. It can also be a source of our failure in work, sports, etc. because we think far too highly of ourselves and our capacities. But then in Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis said, 

...the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.  Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

 In case you don't understand what Lewis is driving at, the simple truth is that pride underpins and guides all other sins. From the beginning when Adam & Eve were tempted and fell, pride was the basis. They thought (and notice the very intentional "they" because it was a joint effort, not an Eve or an Adam.) they would become like God, taking the place of the one who literally made them from the dust, if they ate the fruit. Scripture further tells us 

The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Notice the driving force of pride in each element there. The classic "lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" is birthed in pride and steeped in a belief that we know better than the God who set everything in motion. Adam & Eve decided they knew better than God and that if they took matters into their own hands, they would gain all of the benefits and become equal to (or better than!) God. The whole interchange starts by planting doubt via a lie: "Did God really say that...?" Eve answers with a the truth coupled with an exaggeration, likely based on the importance of the command in her mind, taking it to they couldn't even touch the tree or they'd die. Then the lie is paired with truth, as the impact of the fruit is sold to them without the consequences. They wouldn't die from touching it or instantly die from eating it, but would become wise and like God. Did that happen? Yeah, they gained some wisdom and realized instantaneously that they were naked, leading to a shame reaction. Then they made clothes to hide their nakedness, because they were ashamed!, and then hid from the God who made them in the second shame reaction of creation. Notice, shame comes from misplaced trust and abuse of the created order. Our pride leads to sin, leads to shame, because we have twisted the very good of creation into a lesser thing in our image instead of God's.

Pride leads all of that from the impetus to the fall, "to be like God," to hide their nakedness, to hide from God, to playing the blame game with Adam tossing Eve under the bus followed swiftly by blaming God. Did you see that? When God asks if they ate the fruit, Adam replies,

“The woman you gave to be with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

 Adam blames Eve, ignoring his actions and involvement therein, until the final phrase, "And I ate." At the same time, he blames God because, quite obviously, the woman God gave him caused this calamity, not his own actions. We'd love to think this kind of thinking is in the past, right? But we are constantly looking for someone to blame, someone to be responsible for the things we do that cause us to feel shame or fear. Our sin is what causes that and blaming others is our pride reacting to potentially or actually being harmed when we're in the wrong.

Nothing has changed today, we blame each other for our own faults or we blame God. Our pride, to quote that theologically deep tome Top Gun, "Is writing checks our body can't cash." It digs us a hole we cannot get out of and has since the beginning. The only solution to fixing our sin that crashed creation was for someone who didn't have blame to carry the blame that we wanted to shift, willingly. Justice is then satisfied because the price of our pride is paid in full as our sin is rightfully punished. That leads to the biggest but in all of creation

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

Our pride cause calamity then and causes calamity now, but it doesn't have the final word. Instead, there is a better way, a restored way, the original way. Living as one created in the imago dei, bearing that image of the one who made us and growing in His grace and knowledge as we become more and more like Him.

In their four piece cycle, Principium, The Arcadian Wild puts lyric and music to the joy of creation, the pain of the fall, and the longing for rebirth. Each piece builds upon the prior and repeats themes throughout, tying everything together. If you've never listened or watched the music videos, take the time and think through it all, but especially listen for the simple truth, even in our pride, we still look like Him. That's enough for me to love my children, even in their faults and I'm a poor representation of God's love. 

Even in our sin, even in our pride that leads us away from the on who loves us so, we still look like Him. He still loves us, even in that sin, guided by our pride. He loved us so much He gave His Son to take our place, bear our shame, pay the price justice demanded, to give us life. That kind of love is beyond description and requires the intervention of our God to begin to comprehend it, as Paul prays

being rooted and firmly established in love, may [you] be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge... 

May you know that love and may you look more and more like the One who loves you that way, so that all the world would hear and see the grace that overcame your pride...