We last looked at the way the spirit of pride can creep into our hearts and lives through the gate of insults, but there is another entranceway often left opened and unguarded through which that spirit travels quite often. That is the gate of compliments.

We have to be very careful with the way we receive compliments. In the way we often take insults personally, to our own demise, we can also take compliments too personally as well. When one is complimented about their skills in basketball or singing or physical attractiveness, or preaching (etc.), the temptation is to allow the seeds of pride to be planted in the heart. A cure for this type of pride is similar to the cure for the pride of insults—don’t take it too personally.