Pride Goes Before Destruction

Kez Mayıs 25, 2022

I am considering a number of activities in my life at the moment and wondering exactly why I do them - mainly blogging, crafting and various community and school committees.

I was working on a birthday present for a friend's little girl recently and hubby told me I was only making that to show off (as my friend has never learned to sew or knit). His comment totally ruined the enjoyment I was taking from making this special gift and this certainly would not be my main motivation. But he did make me think. Yes, I am happy and proud when a gift I have made is loved and exclaimed over - I have generally put a lot of time, effort and love into making it and it is lovely to be praised for it. Is this sinful pride? I'm not sure. Where does the line fall between genuine happiness at praise and being proud?

And I guess when I think about blogging, it is lovely to receive positive comments and have total strangers praising your work. It really gives me a happy feeling to log on and see new comments on my blog. Is this sinful pride?
As you can see by hubby's comment above, I don't get any support or positive comments on my craft at home, so I suppose blogging about it is my acknowledgement that I am doing something beautiful and useful. Is this sinful pride?
Is blogging 'praising yourself'?

I have two friends who do a lot of work in the community and school and whenever anyone mentions them, they will say things such as 'what an amazing woman', 'how does she do it all?', 'I admire her so much for all the hard work she puts in.'
I am also on most of the committees they are working with and I must admit that I feel a little bit of jealousy that people talk to me about them but never say I am doing a great job. Pride has reared its ugly head!

I do the work as I believe it needs to be done and am quite happy to work quietly behind the scenes. But sometimes it gets a bit frustrating when I know I worked just as hard with no acknowledgment. Wow, talk about pride in that sentence! But I will leave it there in the interests of honesty. As the above quote from C.S. Lewis shows, it is part of our fallen nature to be prideful, as it is part of human nature to crave praise and acknowledgement. But when does this cross the line into sinful pride?
I am afraid I do not know the answer - I just know it is something I am working on. Whenever I feel that jealousy coming on, I remember one of the Bible quotes I have included here.

A more mature Christian would be more help in this matter, but I guess my take on it is if I am taking on work or projects with the main motivation being other people's praise or notice of my work, that is prideful. Accepting praise humbly when given, without seeking it out, and without that being the reason you undertake a project, would be ok.
Being a relatively new Christian (and basically 'self-taught' as I am unable to attend church), I am not very articulate, but hope I have managed to convey my meaning, and hope that it is consistent with God's Word.

It is tempting to take on projects outside the home, while neglecting home duties, as being a home-maker is generally not acknowledged and we all feel that need to be validated. I have been guilty of this and it has been a main focus of my prayer at the moment.

I would appreciate any comments on this matter from some more 'expert' among you, as after hubby's comment, I am floundering a bit and am unsure on any of this.