Last four words have nothing to do with the lesson today.

Today's topic is pride. Something I'm seeing growing in my community and everywhere else. What is pride? As defined by LDS.org, pride is a lack or absence of humility or teachableness. Where people put themselves over others, disregard the teachings and lessons as recommendations instead of truth, and instead use their own thoughts ideals. Pride is a scary thing. You see everywhere in the scriptures where the Lord helps out the people and then those people deny that there is a God because they grow prideful. They don't need God anymore because they're doing fine, and then things go in a cycle. Where God helps them out, they thank him and peace comes along, then they forget and become prideful, then the Lord helps them, then they etc etc etc. It's a cycle that doesn't need to be repeated, but is, and shall be, repeated for as long as human beings exist. However, we can put a stop to that.

Ezra Taft Benson gave a talk in April of 1989 about pride, telling us that pride isn't just about being self-centered. In his talk, he says "The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” So, our pride is thinking that we know better than God. I feel silly just typing that. We, humans that were created by God, think that we have the sense to more than our Divine Creator. Pretty silly.

So, along with feeling that we are better than everybody around us, pride also means that we do things according to what we think is right rather than what Heavenly Father thinks. How can we avoid this?

First, you need to learn humility. Be modest about yourself. You're not better than me, and I'm not better than you. Realize that you have flaws, because every human being has flaws, and that striving to be more like God is the way to go. Gain a fear of God, because people are nothing compared to the kind of punishment that God can inflict upon us.

As for thinking that we know better than God, here's something. Think to one of the lowest part of your lives. Think about a loved one. Where you thought that they were going to die, or have died. Think about the times that you were struggling with something, where you felt as if there was nobody to help. You were torn up on the inside. And yet, I hope you chose to ask the Lord for help. Don't ever forget that. Heavenly Father helped you through that. Your loved oned survived, and you felt happier than anything else in the entire world. Or, your love one passed, and that was the saddest you've ever felt. You pulled through all that, thanks to the Lord. Don't ever, ever forget that. he helped you when you thought that the world was over. You felt Him put a hand on your shoulder, and you managed to get out of there. Remember that God loves you. Remember that, without Him, you wouldn't be there. And if you have an inkling of a doubt that he knows what he's doing, just remember that he has a plan for you.

Thanks for reading.
-Joe