Why I don't use the word "PROUD"

Good day all, I hope you are enjoying your summer. We homeschool through the hottest and coldest weather here in the mid-west on purpose. We are on our breaks during the most beautiful weather so we can take advantage of being out of doors more often. What can I say, I'm a chicken in hot and cold weather, and I only really enjoy spring and fall temps here. Not to say we don't go outside when it is hot and cold just not as often. 

Okay, let's jump into topic. Why my husband and I do not use the word "proud" in a positive way. You all have heard it "I'm proud of you son/daughter". Maybe you think you wish you could hear that from your parents. You maybe heard it on sitcoms like I did growing up and spent your childhood craving approval from your parents with these 4 little words "I'm proud of you". Maybe your parents said it to you when you got a good grade on a test or you avoided a temptation, or chose to be the bigger person in a dispute.

 It's commonly accepted in our society, and encouraged on all forms of media, books, music, t.v. and in movies. It's presented as a positive word in almost all things we are influenced by. But do you know what the Bible says about that word? Let's look at a couple verses that use the word Pride. 

First of all the word PRIDE is used in the bible 46 times. I hope from earlier posts you know we are only using the KJV Bible in our home. 

Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." 

(most people know that one...)

Proverbs 8:13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate."

(mighty powerful words there...)

Psalm 10:4 "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."

(hello!)

1 Timothy 3:6 "Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil."

(not seeing anything to brag about here...)

1 John 2:16 "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

Okay, so here are 5 examples of 46 from the KJV bible. It is God's preserved word. He inspired it all and intends for us to take it literally. I showed you verses from the old testament the Psalms from Paul's doctrine and the doctrine of the kingdom. You should upload the Tecarta Bible KJV app and check it out for yourself. There is no place in the Bible where pride is a good thing to have. Not in any capacity. Does this challenge you? I say good, at least to make you think twice about using the words Pride or Proud. 

Now, learning this about God's view on the words pride and proud, we started to question "what is a good way to let our children know we think they are a doing well?" and, "how can we encourage them, so this need for approval can be fulfilled"? We again looked the word of God and to what our heavenly father says instead. Here are a couple verses we found.

Matthew 3:17 "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Hebrews 13:16 "But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."

There are in addition to these two verses 13 other places in God's word that says "well pleased" or "pleased him well". BOOM! So, that is what we say to our children, "This pleases me" or "I'm very pleased" or "This does not please me". They are loved in the most specifically biblical ways we know thus far. And it is so powerful, because our little ones just want to please us so much. I cannot think of something with more of an impact than to purely say "I'm pleased with you". I'd be happy to hear your thoughts about this post or any of them. Please subscribe and I wish you a blessed day, afternoon and evening.