Pride Won't Save You

If you grew up in the 80’s like me, you were a fan of The Karate Kid. It’s the story of Daniel LaRusso and his karate master, Mr. Miyagi and all of their adventures in Southern California and Okinawa, Japan. In the Karate Kid 2, specifically, we catch up with Daniel after winning the All-Valley Karate Tournament, graduating from high school, and breaking up with his girlfriend, Ali. Daniel is frustrated, and he goes to Miyagi for guidance. While visiting him, Miyagi gets news that his father is dying, and he must make the trip home to Okinawa. Daniel decides to take some of his college money and buy a ticket to accompany his master on the journey. Neither was ready for what was waiting for them there.

Upon arriving, they were picked up, via limo, by a young man named Chozen, who was eager to meet them. As they were heading to their destination, Miyagi noticed they were going the wrong way. When the limo stopped, waiting for them outside of the vehicle was Miyagi’s oldest friend, Sato. Decades earlier, Sato, the son of the richest man on the island, was to be married to a young woman named Yukie. The marriage was arranged, but Yukie and Miyagi were in love, and their intentions were made known. Sato challenged Miyagi to a fight to the death for her hand, but Miyagi fled the country instead. He had no desire to fight his friend. This led to years and years away from his loved ones, and over that time, Sato continued to feel dishonored and became a dictator-like leader on the island. 

As the movie continues on, we see the constant tension between Sato and Miyagi, as Miyagi wishes no harm to his old friend, but that olive branch is not reciprocated. Eventually, there is a typhoon in the village, and Miyagi saves his old friend from potential death. Sato realizes that his pride has negated decades of potential friendship and asks for Miyagi’s forgiveness, which is immediately given. But imagine what Miyagi’s life might have been like if Sato’s pride hadn’t gotten in the way. He and Yukie may have gotten married, had kids, and Miyagi could’ve been there to take care of his village and his family. Unfortunately, Sato allowed his pride to become his driving force and ruin one of the strongest relationships that he had ever had. 

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

Another example of this kind of pride can be found in the book of Genesis. It’s here that we read the story of Joseph, the Son of Jacob, also known as Israel. Jacob has many sons, and they were hard workers, but Jacob had one son that he favored above them all. 

These are the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. 
Genesis 37:2–4

Already, we can see there’s a problem here. The other brothers are not happy at all with their father’s love for their brother. They hated him. I have a younger brother and sister, both of whom I love dearly. I can say, though, that my younger brother was always favored over my sister and me a little by my mother. She was a middle child, as is my brother. She always wanted to make sure that he didn’t get overlooked due to being the middle child. While that irritated my sister and myself growing up, we never would’ve taken the steps that Joseph’s brothers did. Jacob sent Joseph off to find his brothers, but he wasn’t ready for what would happen.

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Genesis 37:23–24

Imagine the confusion that Joseph was experiencing here. He knew his brothers weren’t crazy about him, but why are they doing this? The craziest thing is that it was about to get worse.

Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.
Genesis 37:28

Now Joseph is heading off to be a slave in Egypt. His brothers’ pride was so intense that they were willing to capture and sell their own brother into slavery. They couldn’t handle the idea that Joseph was more loved or could possibly be more successful than they were. Years later, there would be a famine in all the land, and the sons of Jacob would need to go to Egypt for much-needed food and supplies to survive. 

By this time, Joseph had proven himself to the Pharoah and was given the keys to the kingdom. He was now over all the people of Egypt, and the brothers, without knowing, would need to go to him for help. After some shenanigans, Joseph finally revealed himself to his brothers.

And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
Genesis 45:3–5

Joseph could’ve answered with pride, but he chose instead to give grace. Many of us find ourselves wanting to “get back” at people. We want to make sure they understand how they wronged us. In today’s political climate, we see left vs. right, conservative vs. liberal, and big city vs. rural all the time. Rarely do we see grace. Pride is the easy answer. Grace is the correct answer. How will you respond when you are treated wrongly due to someone’s pride? Will you clap back, or will you be an example of humility and wisdom? Pride never leads us well, but grace and humility could save the world. Pride won’t save you.