The Root of Contention

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. —Proverbs 11:2

So many of us have inflated egos, and that often comes out by the way that we belittle others. We put them down because we’re trying to inflate ourselves. Proverbs tells us that pride leads to contention.

If there’s contention in your home or in one of your relationships, the root of that contention is always pride. We might think it’s the other person’s arrogance that’s the problem, but it’s not the other person. It’s my arrogance that causes the conflict—needing to have my way.

That’s how it was in the Corinthian church. They were proud of what they knew, proud of their past teachers, their intellectual and spiritual knowledge. And because of that pride, there was contention.

Arrogance builds me up, but love builds others up. John the Baptist was a wonderful example of a humble spirit. He said, “He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. . . . He must increase, but I must decrease” (Luke 3:16; John 3:30).