“How difficult it is to awaken even Christian people to an understanding of the real nature of pride! As G. Campbell Morgan suggests, one may stand before a congregation and hold their breathless interest by a recountal of dramatic stories of lives ruined by drink and other carnal sins. But try to expound a text such as this from Obadiah, ‘The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee,’ and there is a marked difference in attention and response. The reason is the fact that the true nature of pride is so little understood.

“Look at it this way. Here are two statements, each of which might fall from the lips of some well-meaning church member. Referring to another person, someone says, ‘He is a good man but proud.’ Such a remark hardly strikes our ears as inappropriate or shocking. We are all too willing to admit that goodness and pride may be companions within the same life. But consider this remark, ‘He is a good man but a thief.’ Immediately our moral sensibilities are outraged. ‘Hold on!’ we say. ‘What do you mean? A man cannot at the same time be good and a thief.’ Yet in the sight of God pride is fully as bad as stealing, if not worse.”