The Pride Cycle

Lately in my Book of Mormon reading, I've been in the part of the Book of Mormon where something we like to call The Pride Cycle is very apparent. The Pride Cycle starts out when the people of the Nephites are being blessed so much by God. They have all these riches and all these worldly possessions that the Lord is blessing them with. After a while, the people begin to boast in these riches and begin to rank themselves higher than other people. They begin to forget the Lord, who is the reason they have all these wonderful blessings in the first place. When this happens, the Lord starts to stop blessing them, and begins instead to start punishing them. In the Book of Mormon, the punishment happens in a number of ways including war, famine, a curse upon their worldly possessions, etc. After they decide they've been afflicted enough, they begin to remember the Lord and ask for forgiveness. The Lord forgives and starts to bless them again. This cycle repeats several times throughout the pages of the Book of Mormon.

While reading this, I can't help but think about where we see this in our own lives today, and how we can avoid it. As a missionary, I see many people who have quite a bit of worldly wealth and give all of the credit to themselves. They don't thank God, or even acknowledge Him for their bounteous wealth. Often, these people don't have any desire to hear the Gospel. It saddens me when they have all this wealth that could be used to help people but instead they selfishly keep it to themselves. How do we avoid all of this in the first place?

First, we have what we call as missionaries, an attitude of gratitude. We always remember the Lord in all the blessings that He gives to us. The Lord has given us so much and if we keep expressing our gratitude and truly remember where the blessings come, we'll avoid being prideful.

Second, we keep the commandments of God. It's hard to be prideful when you're constantly feasting upon the words of God written in the scriptures and through His modern servants. It's hard to be prideful when you're kneeling in prayer every morning and night. It's hard to be prideful when you attend church every Sunday. If we're constantly doing what's right and remembering God, we will avoid being prideful.

Third, we be humble. Jesus Himself said: "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4) Humility is the opposite of pride. We can't be humble and prideful at the same time.

There are many other ways that we can avoid the Pride Cycle. These are just a few that I thought I would share with ya'll. Let us always remember from where our blessings come. I testify that they come from our loving Heavenly Father. He wants to bless us, and He will if we're doing what's right.