Pride Cometh Before the Fall

In President Ezra Taft Benson’s talk “Beware of Pride” he warns us of the dangers of pride.  When we have pride it can affect all aspects of our lives.  Our marriages are one aspect that pride can destroy.  In Presidents Bensons talk he discusses the different faces of pride.  He says that disobedience, selfishness, and contention are all aspects of pride. 

One of the elements of pride that President Benson mentions is selfishness.  He says “Selfishness is one of the more common faces of pride. “How everything affects me” is the center of all that matters—self-conceit, self-pity, worldly self-fulfillment, self-gratification, and self-seeking.”  There is absolutely no room for selfishness in a marriage.  Selfishness will deteriorate a marriage quickly.  When we focus on ourselves, we will be easily irritated with our spouse and will see their many short comings.  In the bookDrawing Heaven into Your Marriage it says “God has given us an early warning system.  When we are feeling irked, annoyed, or irritated with our spouse, we have our backs toward Heaven.  We are guilty or pride.  In a spiritual sense we are saying to our spouses, “You are not meeting my needs the way would like them met.  Don’t you realize that is your job?! Your every act is to be dedicated to my happiness. Now Hop to it.” We cannot expect anyone to meet our needs and make us happy. If we want to have a happy marriage we need to be looking outward and trying help our spouses be happy.  If both spouses are doing this then this will lead to a happy marriage. 

President Benson also speaks of contention. He says that “Contention in our families drives the Spirit of the Lord away. It also drives many of our family members away. Contention ranges from a hostile spoken word to worldwide conflicts.”  When we are contentious with our spouse that can rip a big hole in our marriage. We need to look for ways that we can bring the spirit into our marriages not push it away.  When the spirit is strong in our homes we can find peace and we will be happier. 

When we have pride it makes it so that we are only looking out for ourselves.  In a marriage we should be working together as partners.  We need to be each other’s teammates and the old say goes there is no “I” in teamwork.