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Pride is a sneaky thing that can infiltrate anybody’s attitude if we’re not careful. It can be as simple as a self-assuring voice trying to soothe our insecurities by saying, “Well, at least I’m better than they are.”

Pride often does not—at first—look like an arrogant snob who puts others down with insults and declares themself the best, smartest, or strongest. It looks like quiet contempt for someone we feel just isn’t quite as good as we are.

There is a difference between being proud of an accomplishment and being prideful. I think we often lose this nuance because we take the word “pride” to mean all forms of being proud of something we’ve done ourselves.

It’s okay to be proud of something you’ve done. For example, I am proud that I have been able to write and have published multiple books. But to be prideful about it would be to say that because I’ve done that, I’m better than all the writers who have not yet had their works published.

You might be proud to score a winning touchdown at a game or get straight A’s. You might be proud to be recognized as employee of the month or to receive a promotion. That’s well and good.

Pridefulness, though, is when that makes us say, “No one on the team is as good as I am! No one in class is smarter than I am!” or “I’m the best person at my job; no one else can compare!”

One can be proud of their accomplishments while still being humble. That humility might sound like, “I only scored that touchdown because the rest of the team had my back,” or “I only got straight A’s because I worked really hard and I had good teachers.” It might sound like, “I am honored to be employee of the month because I know there were so many other people who deserved it, too.”

Being proud and humble can go hand in hand. Being prideful and humble cannot.

And this is a distinction Jesus spoke about in Luke 18:9–14.

Jesus was apparently surrounded by people who were prideful. The passage says they “trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” In other words, they were confident in their own righteousness and looked down on those they believed were not as righteous as they were.

Jesus chose to address this issue with, as He often did, a parable.

The story featured two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, a member of a highly respected religious group known for its strict attention to the law. The other man was a tax collector.

Tax collectors were hated for being seen as sellouts to Rome. They were Jewish citizens who collected money from their own people on behalf of the Roman government, and they often had a reputation for collecting extra and pocketing it for themselves. In contrast to the Pharisee, whom many would have viewed as righteous, the tax collector represented the kind of person respectable society wanted nothing to do with.

In the Pharisee’s prayer, he chose to elevate himself. He told God how thankful he was that he wasn’t like other people. He wasn’t a thief. He didn’t commit sexual sins. He wasn’t even “like this tax collector.”

His prayer was all about himself.

He spoke of his own good deeds: fasting and giving his tithes. He lifted himself up, telling God a

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