Excerpts from "From Pride to Humility" by Stuart Scott

When someone is proud he or she is focused on self. This is a form of self-worship...Thomas Watson is quoted to have said, "Pride seeks to ungod God." This phrase certainly describes the arrogant.

But what about those who are caught up in self-pity, who are self-absorbed with a sense of failure? This too is pride. They are just on the flip side of the pride "coin." People who are consumed with self-pity are focusing on their own selves too much. They are not concerned with the glory of God and with being thankful for what good gifts and talents the Lord has given them, but instead are focused on how they think they have gotten a "raw deal," or how they are not "as good as" someone else.

A Sample List of Pride Manifestations:
1. Complaining against or passing judgment on God.
2. A lack of gratitude in general.
3. Anger.
4. Seeing yourself as better than others.
5. Having an inflated view of your importance, gifts and abilities.
6. Being focused on the lack of your gifts and abilities.
7. Perfectionism.
8. Talking too much.
9. Talking too much about yourself.
10. Seeking independence or control.
11. Being consumed with what others think.
12. Being devastated or angered by criticism.
13. Being unteachable.
14. Being sarcastic, hurtful, or degrading.
15. A lack of service.
16. A lack of compassion.
17. Being defensive or blame-shifting.
18. A lack of admitting when you are wrong.
19. A lack of asking forgiveness.
20. A lack of biblical prayer.
21. Resisting authority or being disrespectful.
22. Voicing preferences or opinions when not asked.
23. Minimizing your own sin and shortcomings.
24. Maximizing others' sin and shortcomings.
25. Being impatient or irritable with others.
26. Being jealous or envious.
27. Using others.
28. Being deceitful by covering up sins, faults, and mistakes.
29. Using attention-getting tactics.
30. Not having close relationships.

Humble people are focused on God and others, not on self. Even their focus on others is out of a desire to love and glorify God. They have no need to be recognized or approved. There is no competition with God or others. They have no need to elevate self, knowing that they have been forgiven and that God's love has been undeservedly and irrevocably set on them. Instead, a humble person's goal is to elevate God and encourage others.

A Sample List of Humble Manifestations:
1. Recognizing and trusting God's character.
2. Seeing yourself as having no right to question or judge an Almighty and Perfect God.
3. Focusing on Christ.
4. Biblical praying and a great deal of it.
5. Being overwhelmed with God's undeserved grace and goodness.
6. Being thankful and grateful in general toward others.
7. Being gentle and patient.
8. Seeing yourself as no better than others.
9. Having an accurate view of your gifts and abilities.
10. Being a good listener.
11. Talking about others only if it is good or for their good.
12. Being gladly submissive and obedient to those in authority.
13. Preferring others over yourself.
14. Being thankful for criticism or reproof.
15. Having a teachable spirit.
16. Seeking always to build up others.
17. Serving.
18. A quickness in admitting when you are wrong.
19. A quickness in granting and asking for forgiveness.
20. Repenting of sin as a way of life.
21. Minimizing others' sins or shortcomings in comparison to your own.
22. Being genuinely glad for others.
23. Being honest and open about who they are and the areas in which they need growth.
24. Possessing close relationships.