Normalizing Sin

Russell Moore nailed a significant, but subtle, issue in his post today. I think that it is worthy of much deeper reflection – especially the way we tend to “normalize” pride and diminish genuine Christian humility. His post is an excerpt from a new book. These two paragraphs called me out:

Most of us know that pride and status-hunger are character flaws, but we rarely see the satanism of pride in our own situations. Part of that is because of how fallen humanity normalizes pride. We grow accustomed to thinking of self-exaltation, at least to some manageable degree, as a “normal” part of leadership and drive.

In Christian ministry self-promotion and egotism are rewarded because the more a Christian crows about his superior prayer life or his cutting-edge research or his ability to grow churches or movements, the more an audience tends to believe it. Genuine Christian humility, by contrast, often seems mousy or non-assertive by contrast. When so many leaders are proud, it becomes very difficult for the Spirit-convicted psyche to discern, “Am I prideful, or am I a leader?”