Week 8 Beware of Pride

In the talk, "Beware of Pride", President Benson 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." It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us." As I read this statement and think about the effects pride can have on a marriage, I see how it can have devastating lasting results to a successful marriage. Any marriage that uses the word hatred when describing some of the feelings involved is not a marriage of eternal love. Because of this, Satan uses pride as a tool to destroy a marriage which in turn can destroy a family.

Satan allowed pride to destroy his relationship with his Father when he rebelled in the pre-existence. He himself wanted all the power and recognition taking it away from God. "His prideful desire was to dethrone God" (Benson, 1989). As we allow ourselves to be prideful in our marriages, we are no different from Satan. We are not looking for ways to walk side by side in this journey of life. We are not looking to find ways to better communicate our needs and wants in a loving, patient way or trying to learn about our spouses needs and wants. We are definitely not looking for ways to show love and appreciation for our spouse.

However, we are looking for opportunities to show our spouse when they have done something wrong, or holding grudges, or complaining about our relationships. We are putting our needs above our spouses. "Selfishness is one of the more common faces of pride. "How everything affects me" is the center of all that matters (Benson, 1989) We are walking one step ahead of our spouse to show that we are the ruler in the relationship in hoping to receive recognition over our spouse. Unfortunately as we allow ourselves to live our lives in this foolish way we are being overtaken by the power of Satan and inviting him into our relationships. This is a recipe for disaster!

The only way to counteract these feelings of pride is to humble ourselves before God and our spouse. "The antidote for pride is humility-meekness, and submissiveness. It is the broken heart and contrite spirit" (Benson, 1989). We must recognize that pride is a sin that affects all people, including ourselves. To be humble takes action. It is important to look for ways to show gratitude to your spouse. Say sorry and ask for forgiveness for when you have done something wrong. Do not hold grudges. Allow for times of growth and mess ups, as there will be times like this in a marriage.


https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1989/04/beware-of-pride?lang=eng