“The self is persistent. Quietly, subtly, ingeniously, it works itself back to the center.”

–from Earth and Altar (Eugene Peterson, theologian and author)

Well, folks, it’s Super Tuesday, and by the end of the day two candidates for POTUS will have all but sewn up their respective nominations. They’re also the two people almost seven out of ten Americans don’t want to see four more years of. Yet, they soldier on–the critics, pollsters, and voters be damned.

One candidate demands total fealty. If you don’t kiss the ring, bend the knee, or carry his water (pick your metaphor) he doesn’t want or, in his opinion, need your support. That’s a wide swath of prejudice against a substantial portion of his avowed political party and unaffiliated voters.

The other candidate says he’s the most qualified person in our country to lead it. Really? In a country of over 330 million people, he has no superior … or equal? I pause here to reflect on my career–one I was proud of. But the best at my job in all the country? No way; not even in my own office! To be proud is one thing, pride is quite another.

We all understand it takes a huge ego to put one’s name up for the presidency. There is, after all, the siren call of power that draws one to the office. Of course, someone has to be willing to take the arrows in pursuit of the keys to the kingdom. But to think you’re the absolute best person for the job, or to dismiss anyone who would dare to challenge you, brings with it the inherent danger of pride.

Proverbs 16:18 (NIV) states: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Contemporary believers consider pride to be one of our greatest temptresses, and capitulating to it one of our most egregious sins.

The result? We see it in politics, to be sure. Candidates say things, intimate things, sling things. One rails against another and then, when the one is no longer a viable candidate, drops out and becomes the sycophant of the other–the one whose election would portend “the end of democracy” or some such nonsense. It’s all about power and position.

We know it happens in the corporate world, too. There, however, it just doesn’t garner attention the way it does with politicians–unless your surname is Musk, Bezos, Gates, or a few others. Those who are powerless get kicked to the curb. The bigger corporate fish eat the smaller ones.

If “pride” is the possession of an inordinate opinion of one’s worth, superiority, and/or importance, then pride plus power portends a peck of trouble. For this phenomenon to exist just in the halls of Washington and big business would be one thing, but it has also infiltrated today’s culture.

As Peterson suggests in the above quote, in our humanness, we always return to the self–we feed our own egos. For most of us, not in a harmful or antisocial way; but we sure are tempted, aren’t we? For some, it’s “all about me,” or “I need a safe space, sheltered from others’ opinions,” or “you can say whatever you believe, as long as it’s consistent with what I believe.”

And that’s where our faith should intervene–to save ourselves from ourselves. That’s where we turn to and rely on a higher power. For believers, that approach was modeled by Jesus during His time on earth. He was selfless, not selfish, and He admonished his followers to be the same. And so we strive to do so, some two thousand years later.

Once again, I’ll contend our society has taken God out of our culture, our schools, and our personal lives, and we’ve done so to our own detriment. When we take our eyes off of Him and look to ourselves, we’re destined to fall. And no degree of pride or amount of power will change that fact.