Proverbs 13:10: By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom.

Life is predictable in so many ways. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When we give flowers to our spouse, we look forward to their reaction and if we have been married for some time, we know what that reaction will be. The warm smile, the hug, the kiss, and the whispered thanks fill us with anticipation. Our satisfaction comes full circle when we receive the status quo response. How do we know the reaction? From experience. Experience with our spouse tells us exactly what to do: what kind of flowers to buy, how many, do we include chocolates etc….It strikes me that if we followed the scriptures the same way we worked for a positive reaction from our spouse there would be far fewer “face palm” moments. There would be fewer moments when only in the aftermath of an event do we realize that we could have gone around the brick wall we just hit rather than running headlong into it.

While there are many things that trip us up, pride is a sin that is so easy to be blindsided by. the bible contains 51 references to pride and, at first glance, none of them are positive. It is a safe bet that pride is a trap that we as believers need to watch for. God tells us in Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. 

The book of Proverbs is interesting in that it was written by David’s son Solomon. Recently I attended a bible study on Proverbs. During the study, the teacher said that proverbs was a letter written by a father (Solomon) to his son. Proverbs then is a letter written by our Father (God) to us his children. The Proverbs are snippets of wisdom directly from God! In 31 Proverbs God warns against pride 6 times. It is safe to say that the sin of pride is on the Father’s radar screen.

The tricky thing about pride is it’s built-in. Pride sneaks up on us and before we know it, we have succumbed to its wiles. Our society is based on pride. How many times do we tell a friend or a loved one, “you should be proud of yourself.” I know I’m guilty of it. As I reflect on societal norms, it becomes apparent that society is geared toward building people up.

“Now wait a minute,” you might say, “that’s not so bad.” If we were talking about the human condition and that alone I might be tempted to agree with you. The issue is, we are not talking about things of this world. On the contrary, we are talking about spiritual things; things of the Lord. Looking at pride through God’s prism, we quickly see that He views pride differently.

Pride is associated with words like disaster, strife, fall, and destruction; hardly the outcomes anyone would wish to associate themselves with. If we take stock of our own lives, a practice that is biblically prudent, Proverbs 27:19: As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man. What do we find? Do we  find a heart that lives for God and is humble, or a heart that is prideful; believing that we are responsible for God’s giftings, mercy, grace in our lives? In the event that there is anyone out there who hasn’t figured it out yet, let me be the first to inform you, the great career you have – you didn’t build that! It belongs to the Lord. Your wife or husband, I’m sorry to tell you; they didn’t marry you because of your irresistibleness. No, they are a gift from God and should always be treated as such.

Pride is a sin because, at it core, it involves us taking our eyes off of Jesus and putting the attention on ourselves When we are prideful we are making ourselves god’s. Pride makes everything all about us; we become more and God becomes less. This is contratray to biblical teaching.

John 3:30: He must iincrease, but I must decrease.

The devil will use our own vanity to build us up. He will encourage us and then when the train wreck occurs and it will, he will say, “What kind of Christian are you? You are horrible?”

We should be proud – of Jesus! Proud that He thought enough of us to sacrifice it all: one time for all time! We must live for Him!

Hebrews 12:2: looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Grace & Peace,

LD

*If you would like to know more about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, email me at savedIIserve@gmail.com and let me know! I will be happy to lead you through what the bible says about salvation and accepting Jesus Christ as your savior.*