Tripping Over Pride - Part 2

Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.”

Picking up where I left off on the previous post:

Where pride has crept in, it becomes a distraction, keeping us from being as effective as you could be in your journey with Christ? But humbling ourselves under Creator God’s sovereign hand, we are saying, “He is God and I am not.” You acknowledge that everything “good” in our lives – all that we are, all that we have, and all that we will accomplish – is a providential gift from Him. Do we, in humility and submission, trust Him with every area of our existence and our future?

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

God has made it clear that He hates pride. Hate is a “strong” word, but there is righteous indignation grounded in any mistreatment, insult, or malice and injustice. He knows the damage that sinful pride can do to our lives and particularly to our relationship with Him. Pride is one of Satan’s favorite weapons of spiritual warfare because it causes us to take our eyes off of the Lord and place them on ourselves. If allowed to go unchecked, pride can change our attitude towards God and undermine our relationships with others. Pride always overemphasizes self. It tempts us to believe that we know better than God and we can succeed apart from Him. Pride isolates us from God and keeps us from being totally devoted to Him and prevents us from being fruitful in carrying out His plans and purposes for our lives.

James 4:4-6 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

In contrast, when we choose to clothe ourselves in humility, acknowledging God’s authority and sovereignty in our lives, He will use us and exalt us in His own way, in His own time. Let’s ask God to examine our hearts for any pride that might have crept in. If the Lord shows us areas of pride, then acknowledge it and confess it. Ask for forgiveness from it. Pray that God would give us the ability, courage and strength to turn away from it. Remember where you came from and how far God has brought you. Acknowledge our total dependence on our Maker and Sustainer, and thank Him for all that He has done, is doing and will do in the future in our lives. There is a God, and He is not me! Praise be to God!

Matthew 23:12 “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

In Christ, Brian