The Heavy Pack of Pride

There is a specific mountain northeast of Nepal that the over centuries has been dubbed, Shikhanah Benerkha, which is loosely translated as "the mountain of life".  For centuries, travelers have come to the  mountain to climb it.  The legend goes that if a man can climb the mountain with his burdens and sins on his back, they will be released from their troubles after they ascend to the highest peak and drop off their packs.

At the base of the mountain, before the ascent, the would-be climbers meet with their guides, fill their packs with their burdens, and consider their journey.  After the arduous hike up and down the mountain, the climbers, now freed from their burdens, would go home with a renewed sense of life.  A journalist had heard the reports of the mountain and went to report on what was going on.

For weeks, the reporter stayed at the base of the mountain and watched as people would come with their packs full of burdens, then climb the mountain to let them go.  The journalist saw people with packs full of coveting, others with packs full of greed or of lust, but one time a man came to the base of the mountain with a giant pack, far bigger and more stuffed than any other pack that he had seen yet.

The journalist walked over to the man as he was meeting the guides and the other climbers.  The journalist inquired, "Hey there, I've seen a lot of packs.  Your's is the biggest.  Your burdens and sins must be huge.  What are they? Lust? Greed?"  The man looked at the reporter and chortled, "Ha!  Greed, lust, covetousness, vanity, wrath--that's nothing compared to my problems!  Ha!  Get out of here and let me handle my business."

The man then turned back to his preparations.  The journalist shrugged at the man's rudeness and turned back to the shack at the base of the mountain.  It wasn't until the man had started his trek up the mountain that the reporter realized that his giant, heavy pack was full of only one thing: pride.  For pride is the heaviest and most destructive of all of man's sins.

The poison of pride seeps into every pore of a person.  It is the basis for every sin.  The essence of pride is the overvaluing of self to the undervaluing of everyone else.  Because of this truth, it has no place in Christianity.  Unfortunately, because pride is a sin disease that is common to all mankind, only through the powerful indwelling of the Holy Spirit regenerating our minds and our hearts will we be able to overcome the destructive force of pride.  Let us then devote ourselves to laying down our burdens of pride and selfishness at the foot of the cross so as to follow Christ and love people truly selflessly!