Our current sermon series at St. Luke’s is “Living to Learn; Learning to Live.” This sermon series reflects our ongoing commitment to grow in our faith. We believe that we should not be content to stay the way we are currently. We should work to expand our knowledge of God and the world around us. Growing in our faith helps us to grow in our love for God (remember, we are called to love God with “all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.” (Matthew 22:37) Growing in our faith helps us to experience life fully.
There are many opportunities to grow in our faith. There has never been a time in history when knowledge has been more readily accessible. However, there are obstacles that keep us from learning. One of the biggest hinderances to establishing a life of learning is pride. Pride is present in all of us. Warnings about pride are found throughout the scripture. Pride is an internal attitude of self-importance and arrogance. This is not to say that we should not see our value as the children of God. The warnings about pride, found in scripture, are there to help us be aware of our potential self-centeredness and the pitfalls that follow when we only focus on our own desires, worry, and fears.
The book of Proverbs is filled with references to pride and the problems that follow when pride is not kept in check. One such proverb says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2)
Pride hinders our learning in two ways. First, pride tells us that we know enough. It keeps us from searching out new ideas, seeking about different viewpoints, and exploring the endless possibilities of new knowledge. We miss so much when we think we know enough about a given topic, or we refuse to learn more because it may disturb our comfortable views on life.
Secondly, pride prevents us from growing by telling us we are not capable of learning new things. Sadly, we often avoid opportunities to grow in our faith because we don’t want others to know that we have a lack of knowledge. The truth is that no one person knows all things. A willingness to admit we need to add to our knowledge helps produce wisdom in each of us.
This week is filled with so many new opportunities to grow in our faith. I hope each of us will spend some time in prayer, set aside our pride, and seek to love God and the life God has given us fully. To love God requires our hearts, our souls, and our minds. Let us not let pride stand in the way; instead, let us live to learn.
– Rev. Keith King, Pastor of Worship
