I absolutely despise what is designated as “Pride Month” for many reasons, but mostly because there is nothing to be proud of when you are breaking God’s natural laws and order of things. And to use His covenant symbol of the rainbow seems sacrilegious to me. Anyway, that being said, this year’s “Pride Month” was relatively quiet, without a lot of fanfare and lighting up public buildings with the “pride” colors. I think that even if I did not know that homosexuality is sin, I would object to this whole concept of Pride Month because of that word PRIDE.

No where in the scripture have I read to be proud. Instead, Jesus preached being a servant and being humble. We are not exhorted to toot our own horns, to boast of our riches or possessions or even our talents and abilities. All things come from God, so if we are going to go around bragging, we should be bragging about all that God has done.

One of the things that irritates me the most about politicians is that they go around telling everyone what they have done (or usually what they will do) instead of just letting their record speak for themselves. You can tell me every hour something great you have done but unless there is actual evidence for me to see that you did it, I probably will doubt your veracity. Anyone can say anything at any time, but that doesn’t make it the truth.

I am more likely to believe a testimonial from someone else than the words that a person in their own boasting. When you praise yourself, you are banging your own drum, and that doesn’t say “humility” to me.

When someone is praised, I do think that their true colors come out. They either humbly accept the praise, in turn giving credit to others who helped them get where they are, or they strut around like a rooster, as if they are “all that and more.” As Christians, we are not supposed to be proud of our own accomplishments, our appearance or even our wealth. Everything comes from God, so thankfulness should be our attitude, not pride.

God instructs us in boasting and it is not about ourselves.

Imagine thinking of yourself less and others more. Isn’t that exactly what Jesus told us to do and showed us that example by dying on the cross? He didn’t wave a multi-colored flag and say, “Look at me! I am being tortured and persecuted. So, gather around my flag and celebrate me.”

Okay. I am now stepping off my soapbox and ending my diatribe about pride. I would like to ask each of you to give a genuine compliment to someone today, one from your heart and one that builds up that other person. Let’s practice praising others and let God send someone into our lives who will praise us at the right time, just when we need it.