Pride And Ego

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Now with extremely limited availability, contact your local retailer for inventory information. This is Chris Hughes with the Christian Perspective Podcast with Chris Hughes, where we encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds, so enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. The heart of every man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.

So how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now.

Chris Welcome to Masculine Journey. We're glad that you're with us this week. And I just wanted to say, you know, we say that every week, but we mean it especially this week and last week and the week before. We do enjoy having you here with us, and we're very grateful that you join in and you listen. And we do have a guest with us today. Bob, are you on? You can hear us? I can hear you. Yeah, so how's things up in Ohio?

Things are great. It was good. I heard the shame episode just not so long ago yesterday.

That was a good one. And I'll say to the listeners that the men did a session on this at our boot camp, and this was kind of off the beaten path of usual sessions, right? I want to say that that shame session really hit home for me, and it really worked well for me. So I'm really glad that I went to boot camp and you guys did that session. So thank you. Well, thank you, Bob. We obviously credit God with that. He laid it on our heart to do that. And I think we all walked away with things from that and continue to walk away with things from that, just how much the enemy uses shame to try to keep us in control. You got a boot camp coming up here pretty soon, don't you?

Yes. In central Ohio, we have a boot camp, an advanced boot camp, actually, in September 8th through 11th. Go to centralohioabootcamp.com. You can sign up for that. We also have just open registration for our basic boot camp in October, which is October 27th through the 30th. So if you're listening and you're up in the Ohio area, you can go to one of those camps.

Actually, some of us are coming up to that September camp, so we're going to be hanging out with you. Yeah. Well, glad you said excited about that, Bob. Thank you. Yeah. We got great food. I can tell you that.

I think it's going to be worth the trip. I agree with that. Yeah. And you've seen all of us. We do like to eat. We resemble that remark.

Yeah, we do resemble that. Well, Rodney, can you tell us what we've been talking about for how many weeks now? It's been a while.

I can't count that high. I've lost fingers and toes already, so I'm past that. Well, why don't you tell us what we're talking about as far as the overall topic and then the flavor of today. Yeah.

As if we know what we're talking about, we'll pretend anyway. Yeah. Yeah. So we started off calling this the tools of the enemy, and then we added in, hey, it could be the toolbox of the enemy. And now we even got Satan's pallet. Yeah. So we've got a lot of things we're calling this, but basically we're talking about things that Satan uses against us.

And then, of course, God will end up turning to good. But we started off with unforgiveness, then agreements, which are about vows and bitter roots, busyness, condemnation, neglect, marginalization that leads to the orphan spirit. We talked about shame last week, as Bob mentioned, and this week, da-da-da, pride and ego. Pride and ego, that's right. We got plenty of that around here.

We know that it's a pillar series because every time we think we're done, we find at least one or two more. Yeah, there's another. Yeah. Yeah, there's some more in there. So we are talking about pride and ego and how the enemy uses that to try to control us, to also trip us up, to really do damage in our life.

Take the pie, put it in your face, and rub it in. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Just smear it all over. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And Bob, you've got the first clip for the show tonight. If you want to go ahead and set that up and tell us about it.

Yeah, let's set that up. It's from the movie Jerry Maguire. He's a popular high-powered sports agent who has risen through the ranks in his agency that has this moral epiphany that they're not treating their clients respectfully enough. And so he has this mission statement, this new philosophy, he writes it down and then shares it with his agency, who laughs at it basically, and he gets fired for sharing that epiphany. So in this clip, we meet up with Jerry as he got fired and he's leaving his office. So he's in his office and he's asking people to come with him on his big adventure to share his mission and treat people like the way he wants to treat them, so we can start there.

Okay. Let me just say, as I ease out of the office I helped build, I'm sorry, but it's a fact that there is such a thing as manners, a way of treating people. These fish have manners. These fish have manners. In fact, they're coming with me. I'm starting a new company and the fish will come with me.

You can call me, sentimental. The fish, they're coming with me. The fish, they're coming with me.

Okay. If anybody else wants to come with me, this moment will be the moment of something real and fun and inspiring in this God-forsaken business and we will do it together. Who's coming with me? Who's coming with me? Who's coming with me? Who's coming with me?

Who's coming with me besides Flipper here? This is embarrassing. That was a quick trip from pride to humbleness right there. So Bob, that was your clip. What was it about that clip that spoke to you that you wanted to use it? So you could hear Jerry, he's just so excited about going on this new mission to treat his clients more humanely and there he is. He's got this great idea and he thinks people are going to come with him and no one wants to come with him. So he realizes that he's climbing the wrong ladder, the wrong corporate ladder. And there at the end, his pride just gets absolutely demolished by just standing right in front of everyone and no one wants to come with him.

Of course someone does at the end and there's a movie after that big long thing. But that's kind of how I felt recently going through this message of the wall-to-heart message. And last year was my first boot camp and I found myself realizing that I'm climbing the wrong ladder at work. I love my job, but I feel like it's going the wrong way. It's going the wrong direction that my job is becoming more about numbers and less about people. And so, well, I finally, I'm like, well, I'm going to take a job, a different job. And after months and months of applying for different jobs, nothing's coming available.

And then just like last week, two weeks ago, this other job, a lateral move with a slight decrease in pay came open. And I was like, well, I don't want to do this, but I feel like it's my only way to get out of there is my moment, my clarity. Like I can do this.

I can take a step back as Morgan Snyder talks about in his Becoming a King book. You have to take the lowest seat at the table and then work on your character instead of your career. And well, I applied for the job.

I got the job. They say, well, you might actually have to take this pay cut. We can't meet your salary. And I said, well, that's tough.

And my pride was like that. How can you take a pay cut? You worked all this time to move up the ladder and you're getting paid. Well, how, how, how crazy would it be to take a pay cut at this point in your career?

And just to cut, make that short story. Um, on Friday, I got a call and they said, well, we can match your salary. So I was like, oh great, that's cool. So I'm starting a new job here in a couple of weeks.

And, and, um, it definitely was tough that I thought I was gonna have to take a paycheck and, or pay cut. And, but, uh, I'm not, so it feels pretty good to, to know that, you know, how to, how to go through that, um, whole kind of, uh, mental process of thinking that I had to take a step down, but I, I don't really. Well, that's good.

Hey, hey, Bob, you know, you had me at hello. I'm just saying, you got to come back to the Jerry Maguire movie. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it's, uh, thank you for sharing that, uh, question for the group here. What's, what's the difference between being proud and having, and, and, you know, being proud of something and having pride, right? Because they're two distinct different things in some ways, right? But one can lead to the other.

Does anyone have any thoughts on that? I guess it'd go from where what's the intentionality of the action or the thought or the deed that you're doing there where is it intended to bring the spotlight and everything on me and highlight how great I am or look how low I am or something about me. I'd say that is pride. Proud is like of others. I am proud of my kids.

I'm proud that somebody else that's on proud that Bob, you know, found another place where he can go work and he can basically work on himself more and try to, you know, not worry about the numbers. That's, that'd be more proud for me. I think we can be proud of the work that we do or have done as long as we realize that we were able to do it because of what God gave us. And it wasn't just of ourself.

But I think if we're going to be setting the right kind of example, we will always strive to do the best that we very, the very best that we can. But give God the credit. That's a good point.

Jim? I don't think that, I think that's on a continuum. I don't think it's an either or. I think we, I mean, I can be proud of my children and then start thinking, and I raised them to be good kids. Well, actually, what I did was throw them out of the house at 18, which isn't raising them, but I let them know that that's what they need to do.

And all of them did. And they're wonderful kids, but ultimately that's God's doing, not mine. And that kind of takes the pride off of it.

But I hate the word. I don't like doing it because I am burdened with that sin. I mean, if you think about Satan and that first, you know, rebellion against God, and he wanted to be worshiped, but, and that's really what we're doing is we want to be worshiped for whatever we do. It really, the pride to me is I'm making life work independent of God. That's really the definition of it to me is, is if me and God are partnering in things and he's blessing it and I'm partnering and doing my part and he's doing his part, then there's no pride in that.

Cause I didn't do it all, you know? Yeah. As you're talking about that, I'd been thinking about, you know, I'm proud of what we do at the boot camps, but at the end of the day, we know it's God that's doing all the heavy lifting and getting things done. We're just there participating.

Right. And so the difference between doing it on your own or walking with him, go to masculine journey.org to register for the upcoming bootcamp, November 17th through 20th, register now. For me describing bootcamp, when I heard the stories from the stage that the other men had, and then during my prayer time, I'm getting a download from God on where my life is and how I have wounds. And I have a place in his story to know how I heard from God is one of those things. He really does communicate with us.

Register today at masculine journey.org. One of my favorite things about bootcamp. Well, the favorite thing about bootcamp is every time I go, I encounter God. And as anyone that has encountered God knows, generally speaking, it's nothing we expect. Real encounter with God out of the blue. He knew what I needed. I knew what I wanted.

And those two were rarely the same thing. We have some actors in the show. Good thing this is not video.

We definitely have Robby right in the front. Yeah, that was, I just, I was thinking, what can we do? I looked up songs on pride and stuff.

And I was like, proud Mary, that would have been great, but it didn't really make any sense. But when you think about, I did it my way, you know, well, that's a love song. And it really shows the, you know, the independence we have, and that can be good.

But it also, we've talked a lot about independence recently over 4th of July. But it's really an independent spirit. It's almost an orphan spirit. Hate to go back there, but it's based in pride that I did it my way. And I was able to make it work that way.

That's a pretty arrogant orphan spirit. When you listen to the words, it's like, there's no doubt. It's like, I don't care what you say, I did it my way. I ate it up and spit it out. I just, life, I just made it work.

Yeah, it's definitely that. And Vinnie would have been proud. That would have been, Vinnie loved that song. He did it his way, that's for sure. He did do it his way.

But anyway. It speaks to that idea of Vinnie was very proud to be a New Yorker. And he stood on his relative shoulders to some extent and felt like God had provided that for him. I didn't have a sense that in Vinnie's case, certain aspects of that were, to get back to what you had mentioned earlier, pride versus proud. And so Vinnie was proud to be an American.

When somebody didn't stand at the Pledge of Allegiance, you did not want to be around Vinnie. He was a veteran and certainly served his country well. And so, it's an interesting line there. And I really think, where is it that your heart is finding in that?

Is it something that a merit of mine or a merit that was bestowed through God for me? And he definitely felt like his family had provided that for him, a chance to be a New Yorker, a chance to be an American. And he loves some Frank Sinatra. And he loves some Frank Sinatra. He really did. Because he knew him personally. It was his paperboy or something, I don't know. One of those stories. And Carly Simon did sing her song, which was either about Frank Sinatra, I'm pretty sure. Oh, it could be.

It could have been. Well, we're going to get to actually my clip. We'll go ahead and play my clip real quick. And this is from the movie The Lion King. This is when Simba, the baby lion, the cub, thank you, I couldn't think of what baby lion was, but it's a cub apparently. So the cub, yeah, the cub, has learned that he's going to become king. And so he goes to tell one of his family members, his uncle Scar, who is the Satan character in this particular movie.

And I want you to see how you have this very young person that's very innocent, that's just kind of battling with his pride, proud, kind of stepping across the line a little bit. And the enemy latches onto that and his uncle Scar, and just digs in and we'll come back and we'll talk about it. Hey, Uncle Scar, guess what?

I despise guessing games. I'm going to be king of Pride Rock. Oh, goody. My dad just showed me the whole kingdom, and I'm going to rule it all.

Yes. Well, forgive me for not leaping for joy and bad back, you know. Hey, Uncle Scar, when I'm king, what'll that make you? A monkey's uncle. You're so weird. You have no idea. So your father showed you the whole kingdom, did he?

Everything. He didn't show you what's beyond that rise of the northern border. Well, no. He said I can't go there.

And he's absolutely right. It's far too dangerous. Only the bravest lions go there. Well, I'm brave.

What's out there? I'm sorry, Simba. I just can't tell you. Why not? Simba, Simba, I'm only looking out for the well-being of my favorite nephew. Yeah, right. I'm your only nephew.

All the more reason for me to be protective. An elephant graveyard is no place for a young prince. Oops.

An elephant what? Whoa. Oh, dear, I've said too much.

Well, I suppose you'd have found out sooner or later. You being so clever and all. Oh, just do me one favor. Promise me you'll never visit that dreadful place. No problem. There's a good lad.

You run along now and have fun. And remember, it's our little secret. Sometimes cartoons just have a way of just getting to the point so much better than other clips. You know, for me, that was one that you see the enemy just twisting and turning and driving that pride thing home. You know, he plays him up. He questions what was said.

It's very much a very Satan in the Garden of Eden kind of character that Scar is. You know, he didn't say, did your dad say this? But he basically implied it, right? And then, you know, well, that's for the brave lions implying that he's not a brave lion, knowing that that's going to get him to rise up. And you know where he's making a beeline to. You know, he's leaving there. He's going to go get Nala.

And they're going to go to the elephant graveyard, which is where the hyenas are, right? He's sending them into danger. And I just see the enemy's hands in that. And I see the enemy hands in my life when I walk that line of it's OK to be proud. When it starts slipping into pride, you got to be really careful.

And it's a quick slope sometimes that you have to say, OK, hold on. You know, if I am proud of my kids, there were a lot of people involved in my kids' life to get them there, not just me as a parent. You know, a lot of people in this room are involved in their life, plus a whole host of other people. And they all have credit in getting there. Plus, you know, the kids themselves have credit in getting there. Robby, I want to go ahead and get to your clip.

Or is there anything you'd like to add? Well, I love that. And that sound, you know, you can just hear when Scar says almost like, did your father really say that, you know? And you can just hear, you know, Satan's spin on the whole thing of drawing Eve in for that very same exact sin, right? By a little different angle that God's been teaching me on the idea of pride, that actually self-pity is another barb in that hook. And so, pride says, I'm all that, you know, bow before me. While self-pity says, I feel so sorry for me.

You don't seem to feel sorry enough for me. And so, I've got another cartoon. It's Eeyore.

I think most of us can relate. And if you've ever worked with Eeyore, and many of us have worked with Eeyore, you can see that the focus is still completely on trying to get attention of some kind. And the attention is not for the purpose of glorifying God, obviously. And so, we'll hear a little from Eeyore here. The challenge with that, you know, clearly, is yeah, it's pretty easy to see in somebody else, but God's been pointed out in me. Like, you know, I felt pretty sorry for myself about certain things that weren't happening at work that I thought should happen. And I can hear myself, you know, saying, well, they just, you know, nobody listens to me, you know, like almost like Rodney Dangerfield, you know, I just don't get no respect. And I feel myself saying these things, not realizing like, oh my gosh, it's no different than Scar sitting there going, they just don't listen to you, do they, Robby?

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's just like, it's just, you know, he's got the same hook, it's just coming from a completely different angle. And, you know, just something that God's been showing me recently that, you know, it sounds so innocent, but oh my goodness, it's the hooks in me, like Barb and all, and spitting that baby out is not easy. So it's in there like Greg goes spaghetti.

Yeah. If I have to hear that one more time, I'll be sick. It's really kind of funny as Robby and I were walking down, I had no clue what his clip was, because I'm not very good at doing my homework before the show. And I basically asked him, you know, is self-deprecating humor right?

And he had the right answer because he'd already done all the homework. And that's been something I've had to deal with. And it does come down to being the Eeyore. Look at me, I'm pathetic. And I, believe it or not, I'm not as bad as I used to be with it. But it's still a matter of trying to bring the attention on yourself. And that's really what pride comes to. It's about me. It's not about you. It's not about God. It's all about me.

Yeah. That's what I was going to say was, you know, we were talking through this and Lord knows, I've had some Eeyore moments in my life and still do, but I think that is it. It's another way of taking God out of the equation. You can have, I did it all by myself or I did none of it and God didn't come and rescue me. He didn't help me. You know, he's not there. And that's also what will put people in despair. You know, it's like, oh, you don't need God.

So you go off and do everything without him or, oh, you're doing this. God didn't come in for you and rescue you. And therefore you're on your own again, work from spirit.

You know, pride, pride leads right into that. But there is hope for us. There is hope for us. If you read the Psalms, David was both. He was Eeyore and Tigger. Yeah, on the same day. Yeah, same Psalm. So Andy, back to you. On this whole topic, you'd think the enemy would know pride as well as anybody, right?

Right. Because you talked about, you know, the original sin that he had. And so you can tell us a little bit more about that. Well, I mean, when Satan fell, it was, he wanted to be worshiped and get any attention from God. A third of the angels fell with him. And that whole idea of, of really taking the focus off of God and wanting to be the center of attention, it's, it's, it's, it's in us. It came through the fall and that's where a lot of our lives end up. And whenever, I think one of the things I've learned most from the masculine journey, it's what Bob mentioned, Morgan said about taking the lowest seat at the table. I've had more victory in my life by doing that by humbling myself and not trying to make things happen in pride.

Although I've heard you say, I'm at the lowest seat at the table. Go to masculinejourney.org to register for the upcoming bootcamp, November 17th through 20th. We also have an entrenchment coming up, September 30th and October 1st in Reedsville, North Carolina. Go to our website to register for that. This is the Truth Network.