Has anyone else noticed this pattern?
The righteous throughout all of the Book of Mormon (usually) do NOT fall into murder.
They don’t fall into lying and dishonesty.
They don’t go from righteous to burning believers.
They always start with one sin.
PRIDE.
Which then leads to
SEPARATION.
Their righteousness brings them so many blessings.
But instead of feeling gratitude to God for their blessings, they use it as an excuse to separate themselves.
They don’t want to associate with the “others”.
Because they feel they are just a little bit better than everyone else.
We call it the “pride cycle”, but I think that pride is that gateway sin that leads to a desire to be separated.
The opposite of unity and love.
It’s no wonder that the civilization in 4 Nephi was mentioned many times in this most recent General Conference.
The antidote to removing contention and separation is to remove pride.
Not pride in the “I’m proud to be who I am” sense.
But the evil pride that starts by keeping us from associating with “others”.
Not serving “those types of people”.
And then it grows into an active dislike.
And then hatred.
Pride leads to division and contention – which, according to the Book of Mormon, is the most likely sin for us to fall victim to if we consider ourselves “righteous”.
So today, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
How are you 1) noticing and 2) removing the pride that has crept into your life?
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
4 Responses
I feel that, at least for me, I stay humbly grateful for all that I have. Even my thoughts, I thank God for. We are truly blessed to be here on the earth. If I keep that foremost in my life and in my prayers, it helps me know how insignificant I am. Yet still loved by Him.
I love that, thanks for sharing! Gratitude is so powerful.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I like that they are short!!! But also that they are so relevant to our day. Keep up the good work.
Haha thank you! I try to keep them both short and meaningful so that they are easy to digest! <3