Choose To Be Humble

The definition of pride is "a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired." I thought President Benson gave us a great talk on being aware of being prideful. One thing that made me think when I read his talk is when he says, “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.” I thought this was interesting because we all have been prideful in our lives at one point. Satan wants us to use pride to have us turn away from others and to especially turn away from God. Satan can use pride in so many ways in our lives and that’s how he reigns over us. President Benson also talks about pride when he says, “when pride has a hold on our hearts, we lose our independence of the world and deliver our freedoms to the bondage of men’s judgment. The world shouts louder than the whispering's of the Holy Ghost. The reasoning of men overrides the revelations of God, and the proud let go of the iron rod.” Sometimes being prideful is a good thing. It shows that we are proud of something we have done and we all should feel proud throughout many times in our lives. We just have to be careful when we are prideful so that it doesn’t stand in the way of us being able to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Those who can’t hear the whispers of the Holy Ghost will have a hard time holding on to the iron rod and that gives Satan the chance to use everything in his power to make us even more prideful.

I love how President Benson closes by saying, “let us choose to be humble. God will humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble.” Pride can be something we all struggle with throughout our lives, but if we choose to be humble, then we will be able to receive promptings from the Holy Spirit and will receive eternal blessings. I am grateful for President Benson and for his wonderful message about being aware of pride.