Do You Know Who "I" AM?

In  All the President’s Wit by Gerald Gardner he relates a story of a visit of Ronald Reagan to Mexico City. On one occasion President Reagan stood before a large crowd and gave a speech, which on conclusion he sat down to a rather unenthusiastic applause. The next speaker approached the podium and began receiving enthusiastic applause after just about every paragraph. Reagan, not knowing Spanish did not understand what was being said but joined the crowd in applause. After a bit to show his enthusiasm he began to applaud even before the crowd would start. At one point our ambassador leaned over to Reagan and said “I wouldn’t do that. He’s interpreting your speech.”

Pride is like that. Without meaning to we get caught up in ourselves; what we have; who we are; how important “I” am. It becomes all about us.

Years ago my wife, Kathy, worked for Public Relations at a Christian College. On one occasion she was in charge of booking people into motels and hotels for a lecture series that brought in thousands of people. All the nicer places had been booked when one prominent preacher called in late and asked for a room. She assigned him one that was available in what might be considered a 1 or 2 star motel nowadays. When he saw where he was placed he became angry and approached her saying “Do you know who I am?”

Bell Telephone performed a survey years ago to see what people talked about over the phone. It was discovered that the most used word in phone calls was the word “I”.

Love is not proud. This follows “Love does not boast”. Love doesn’t continually point to “me”. It doesn’t set “me” on a pedestal. It doesn’t make “me” the center of attention. It is less concerned about “me” and more concerned about “you”.

The second greatest commandment is to “Love your neighbor as yourself”. To do this we take pride out of the picture. Our focus changes to others instead of self.

I like the old saying “Be kind to people on your way up, because you’ll meet the same people on your way down.” When our lives are filled with pride and arrogance we cut relationships. It turns people away. The “better than you” attitude severs ties with those around us and basically asks people “Do you know who I am?”

Solomon wrote, “A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.”

In other words the only way to really love “me” is to love “you” more.