number one...
"taking pleasure in being praised by others is NOT pride..."
"...when it is from someone that you rightly wanted to please...
your spouse, family, friends, clients or employer..."
"the problem comes in making the transition from thinking...
'I have pleased them, all is well...'
to thinking, 'what a fine person I must be to have done it'..."
"to delight in the freely given praise is good...
to delight in yourself, is pride...
to delight only in yourself and not at all in the praise...
then you've hit bottom... you are vain, & proud of it..."
"a vain person wants praise, applause and admiration far too much...
they so need external validation that they will manipulate to get it...
and will become very petulant, sulky & childish if it does not happen..."
"black vanity comes when you look down on others so much...
that you don't care what they think of you...
'I don't need their approval-I did it for ME...'
this is pride, using vanity to do its dirty work..."
"not caring what others think is fine...
if you care so much more what God thinks..."
"in spite of all this, vanity is a sin that can be successfully dealt with...
but one must see it for what it is & put it behind you...
being careful not to become too proud of oneself in the overcoming...
as to 'cure the flu of vanity, but die of the cancer of pride'"....
number two...
"...being proud of, having a warm-hearted admiration for..."
"admiring and loving anything more than God is a problem...
admiration is fine, to a point...
but, 'putting on airs', pride in oneself', is not good...
to love & admire yourself or anything outside yourself, is fine...
as long as God is first..."
number three...
"God is NOT proud, therefore He is not offended by pride..."
"nor does His dignity demand our humility...
so since God created us in His image...
if we really get close to Him...
to know Him and receive Himself into ourselves...
we will become delightedly humble...
relieved of our dignity, which only makes us restless & unhappy..."
"He wants to make us humble to release ourselves...
from all the pretense that we cover-up our souls with...
so we can, relax, in the comfort of being known & loved...
finally letting go of all the striving & struggle..."
number four...
"a truly humble person is more interested in you...
than they are in themselves..."
"they enjoy life easily...
because they don't think of themself at all..."
"to acquire humility, realize that you are proud...
if you think that you are not self-centered...
you are very conceited, indeed..."
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