Painful Pride Checklist...have fun!

n consequence of the attempt to pray for humility this past month, my eyes have been opened to the many, many ways that I lack humility:
--in judging others
--in judging myself
--in thinking I know better than others
--in preserving a personal sense of pride
--in my relationships
...and the list goes on and on.

I read a delightfully painful list the other day of ways to check our E.G.O. (Edging God Out) from a book called "Lead Like Jesus" by Ken Blanchard, etc..  First he refers to Romans 12:3, where God warns us against thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought.  Then he gives us a checklist of ways we can tell that "pride is at its destructive work":

-When you are engaged in a discussion, you resist acknowledging that the other person's idea is actually better than your own.  In other word, "The righter they sound, the madder you get."

-You start to do all the talking, taking too much credit, demanding all the attention, boasting, showing off, or deminding service on the basis of your position.

-You judge the value of an idea by who said it rather than by the quality of the thought.

-You treat people as too far below you in postition or credentials to seek out their input on issues that affect them.

-Your image becomes more important than substance and truth.

-You act s if the rules, judgments, and standards you impose on others should not apply to you because of who you are or the position you hold.

-Your compensation becomes more important as a mark of success than the ethical and relational price you paid to attain it.

-Winning and losing become the only criteria you value and character becomes an option.

-You look in the mirror to find the source of all success and out of the window for the cause of failure.  ("Just Like Jesus" pg 52-53)

Ouch.