The pride of life is a difficult thing to see in oneself. The heart is deeply deceptive.

For one person the pride of their life is their million dollars in the bank:

For others it is:

•The big sounding corporate career they daily give themselves to.
•Their house or houses.
•The business they joined, built or purchased.
•The large church they built, or joined.
•The superior mothering or fathering abilities.
•The superior family they have.
•The careers or success of their children.
•Their ability to debate and be right about most things.
•Their ability to succeed at whatever they put their mind to.
•Superior political beliefs (or so we think).
•Superior theology (or so we think)
•Superior activism and making the world a better place (according to our shallow thoughts of the world).

•Any other ability or talent that we are pleased with about ourselves.

That is the best way we can identify the Pride of life. Pleased with ourselves, and the flip side of that coin. Being glad we are not like those other people who we see as inferior in some ways to us.

The pride of our lives makes good things bad, for us.

I’ve experienced even many sermons at church appeal to and strengthen the pride of our lives without realizing it. And accidentally do spiritual damage to the very young people we are trying to educate or inspire.