Love Is Not Proud – part 3 (1Cor 13.4-5)

FaithWorking Radio – Episode 14 – Love Is Not Proud – part 3 (1Cor 13.4-5)

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Podcast intro

“Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  does not behave rudely, does not seek its own.” (1Cor 13.4-5.) This is Paul’s picturesque way of saying love is not proud. Pride has long been identified as the arch-sin, the root sin of the seven deadly sins, and as C.S. Lewis put it, the sin that made the devil the devil. Pride is universally despised in others and universally practiced in ourselves. We are experts at recognizing pride in others and dunces at recognizing it in ourselves. Pride is a purely spiritual evil and thus can take on any face. We can even be proud of being humble. How then can we pin pride down so that we can combat it? Perhaps we should start by asking, if God created everything good, and if every sin is a perversion of something good, what good thing is pride a perversion of? As we answer that question, we will come to see that pride, ironically, does not begin with a refusal to give, but with a refusal to receive. To understand why, you will have to listen to the radio show. Bon appetit . . . and thanks for listening. –Alan Burrow