EVERYTHING IS REDEEMED in Christ—even pride. “I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord” (1 Cor. 15:31). Can pride be redeemed when it is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Yes.
Pride was said to be Lucifer’s downfall. The Scriptures generalize it and say, “Pride goeth . . . before a fall” (Prov. 16:18 KJV ). It does inevitably when it is rooted in the unsurrendered self, for the universe doesn’t like the idea of the self being God. Hence the proud unsurrendered self runs afoul of the moral universe and is broken.
Pride can be redeemed and can become constructive, however. Pride is a natural good. Without pride we wouldn’t wash our faces, tidy ourselves in any way, take satisfaction in our work, or keep ourselves fit for our highest achievements. We would sag as personalities. Here Paul says he has pride in these Corinthians in Christ Jesus our Lord. His pride was not in himself, nor in the Corinthians; it was in Christ Jesus—that is, he was proud that he was enabled in Christ Jesus to help these people into a new life.
It was a humble pride; it was a pride that owned Jesus as Lord—in Christ Jesus our Lord. At the center of his pride was a deep loyalty to Jesus as Lord. He bent the knee to his Lord and then rose up straight before everything else, proud that he was being used of His Lord for redemptive purposes, proud that he belonged no longer to littleness, but to Greatness, proud that he had sense enough to become great in that Greatness.
The pride was in Christ Jesus our Lord, and therefore was redeemed, for in Him everything is redeemed. I can be proud of my pride when it is in Him, for it is a decent pride—proud of the right things and right achievements. In myself pride goes before a fall; in Jesus pride goes before a rise.
We thank Thee, Jesus Lord and Savior, that in Thee everything is changed for the better and the best. All our possibilities and potentialities become actualities. Everything tingles with possibility in Thee. I thank Thee. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My pride is redeemed only when I am humbly proud that He sees fit to use me. In which case I am humbled.
