Seven: Pride

The concept of seven deadly, or root, sins arose during the middle ages. In some parishes, priests were instructed to preach on them four times a year. They were understood to be the basic building blocks of a worldly life, and therefore things that Christians should avoid. The concept of a root sin comes from 1 Timothy 6.10: "For the love of money," Paul says, "is a root for all kinds of evil." If greed is a root, then there must be others.
Pride, considered a heavy-hitter in sin's batting line-up, is best illustrated by the story of the fly sitting on the axle of a chariot, who upon looking back remarked, "What a dust I do raise!" Pride is the boasting of what one has and does (1 John 2.16). It is the thinking more highly of oneself than one ought to (Romans 12.3). It is often based on one's intelligence, strength, or birth (1 Corinthians 1.26-29). Just compare the King of Babylon's opinion of himself in Isaiah 14 with the King of Heaven's opinion of himself in Philippians 2. Or remember Milton's Satan when he arrived in Hell (Paradise Lost, book 1, lines 258-263):
"Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n."
Pride is an age-old problem. The Roman writer Cicero observed, "Those who write books despising fame write their own names on the title page." Jesus noticed that the Pharisees loved to have the "place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. (Matthew 23.6-7)" And was it not pride that stirred Eve to answer the serpent's call to eat the fruit that would "make them as God"? To even think that a human could be God (rather than like God) has to be the supreme example of foolishness.
The fruit of the root sin of pride shows up in various ways: control of more and more people, self-glorifying ambition, surrounding of oneself with flatterers, favoritism, factions (divisiveness), judgmentalism, fault-finding, rebellion, having an un-submissive spirit, having a critical spirit, drawing attention to oneself, dominating conversations, consistently putting one's needs before others, whining about how other people mis-treat you, or even being unaware of what's happening in the lives of the people with whom you're supposed to have a relationship. And it is entirely within the scope of human endeavor to turn "boasting in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1.31)", a good thing, into a tool of Pride.
Most of all, I think pride is a root sin because it is the poison that kills compassion in God's good garden. It keeps us from seeing others from God's point of view. It keeps us from being aware of the planks in our eye as we seek to pluck out the speck in our brother's eye. It is what keeps us thanking God that we're not like "those" people (and we don't have to say it to think it). Pride makes us ignorant of others: their thrill of victories and the agony of their defeats.
Maybe, just maybe, we are allowed to continue to struggle with sin to keep us from being proud; to have a constant reminder that we are not what we are supposed to be and therefore we need to be compassionate with others who are not what they are supposed to be.

The Elders