Pride.

I hate pride. Pride keeps people from saying I'm sorry, or I love you, or you were right. Pride can separate the best of friends or even family members. Worse than that, pride keeps us from giving God glory and fulfilling his will for our lives. Pride makes us take our focus off God and put it on ourselves. And what's the point of pride anyway? Why do we think we're so great? We're dirt. Dust. Powerless on our own. And yet there is that part of us that is longing for recognition from our peers and respect from our followers; and it can easily make us proud when we receive it.

 I think the scariest thing about pride is how subtle it can be. It's easy to spot pride in others, but how about ourselves? Our pride won't let us admit we're prideful! We think that somehow we are above the prideful temptations that Kings David and Solomon, and even Jesus faced. When Jesus was tempted in the desert, one of the temptation was dominion over all the world. How would that boost your ego? Yet Jesus didn't stumble, he remained completely humble and used God's word to counter the attack. Like a sheep before his shearers, he was silent in the face of ridicule and disdain. If the son of God can face murderous threats with humility, how much more do we need to?