This week we read an incredible sermon given by President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1989, Ezra Taft Benson, entitled “Beware of Pride.” It may have been given in 1989 but it is more applicable today than ever. President Benson said, “The central feature of pride is enmity-enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.” Pride is what made Satan the adversary of all truth in the first place. I don’t know about you but my goal in this life is not to have Satan reign over me. You can take pretty much any sin and ultimately trace it back to pride. “Pride is the universal sin, the great vice.” (Benson, 1989)
The question then becomes what is
the remedy for pride? “The antidote for pride is humility-meekness,
submissiveness.” The proud must cultivate a deep sense of humility. Spencer W.
Kimball, the 12th President of the Church, said: “How does one get
humble? To me, one must constantly be reminded of his dependence. On whom dependent?
On the Lord. How remind one’s self? By real, constant, worshipful, grateful
prayer.” With that dependence we must also acknowledge that all our gifts come
from God. Elder Steven E. Snow said, “Humility enables us to be better parents,
sons and daughters, husbands and wives, neighbors and friends.”
We can either choose to be humble or be compelled to be humble. Either way God will have a humble people. We will be better off if we choose to be humble. President Benson gave many great ways we can choose to be humble, including:
-conquering enmity
-receiving counsel and chastisement
-forgiving those who have offended us
-rendering selfless service
-going on missions
-attending the temple more frequently
-confessing and forsaking our sins
-love God and submit our will to His
We can be aided in our quest for humility by the Holy Ghost and a reliance on Christ’s Atonement. The Atonement was the greatest act of humility in the history of mankind.
How will our being humble enable the Lord to guide us?
Citations:
Benson. E.T. (1989, April 1). Beware of Pride. Retrieved from https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1989/05/beware-of-pride?lang=eng
Snow, Steven (2016, April). Be Thou Humble. Retrieved from
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2016/04/be-thou-humble?lang=eng
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