Pride
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Has anyone ever asked themselves, why does a person become offended when someone comes against them or says something against another.
Why as believers, do we feel so bad and condemned when we act towards someone inappropriately
Many of these feelings, if not all, stem from a thing that is often misunderstood or misinterpreted....called; pride
Not all pride is considered bad…but generally in the bible it is referred to as a sin against God.
The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.
Pride goeth before destruction, And an haughty spirit before a fall.
Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Pride is seen in many different ways in which some, we may not even recognize as pride.
Lets take a closer look at pride in its definition:
Inordinate self-esteem; arrogance. Also: Arrogance; Boasting; Conceit; Egotism; Gloating; Pride and Humility; Proud; Self-exaltation; Self-Righteousness; Selfish ambition; Spiritual Pride; Stubbornness; Vainglory; Vanity
lacking adequate or official support : not warranted : UNJUSTIFIED
Inordinate self esteem means
thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to
self-esteem that goes to far (over the top)
uncontrolled self esteem
Pride does not confine itself just in unbelievers; but can also be seen in believers as well.
After the last supper, Jesus and the disciples retreated to the Mount of Olives. Then, Jesus told his disciples:
Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.
Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.
We see pride rising up within Peter in a way that we don’t normally recognize
In the words associated with pride, this would be “Self righteousness” or “Spiritual pride”.
Jesus basically said that some of the disciples would fall away. However, Peter was sure Jesus wasn’t talking about him.
In prideful confidence, Peter stated: “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” Jesus replied: “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” Peter replied back, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.
” While Peter truly wanted to believe that, it wasn’t so. He ended up denying Jesus.
This story is a reminder that we can’t put our confidence in what we will never do.
The truth is, we don’t know what we will do till we are put in a terrible situations.
In addition, we shouldn’t judge others that come from sinful lifestyles. We don’t know what happened to cause them to sink that low.
We see that in the bible, Pride is condemned in all forms.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
We also see that pride is a deceiver....
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; That saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
Lets take a look at where the origins of Pride come from....and why God is so against it.
Satan, in the bible is referred to as the deceiver and a lier. someone who has lifted up himself to be as God....Prideful
The king of Tyre was condemned for glorifying himself as a God
And God compares him to satan
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Satan became prideful and desired to be above God
lifting himself up above what he was created for
We also, in our creation being similar to the creation of the Angel, where created for his pleasure and to worship the creator and not the created.
when we lift ourselves above what we where created for, and begin to think we can do it on our own and that we don’t need God....Pride begins to creep in and we become puffed up
We begin to worship the created rather than the creator.....
Pride becomes, in the eyes of God, the worship of this world and of satan by default.
This is why God hates pride so much....
Satan fell into sin through pride
Mankind fell into sin through pride
Therefor, when we surrender our will to that of God, we allow God to take control of our lives and not ourselves.
What Is the Sin of Pride?
What Is the Sin of Pride?
An Attitude of Independence From God
An Attitude of Independence From God
Pride is an attitude of, “I don’t need you, God. Stay out of my life.”
You might say, “I don’t have that.” Question: do you pray regularly? “Well,” you say, “I don’t pray as much as I ought to.”
You don’t pray because you don’t feel the need to. You think, “I can handle it.” If you are wrestling with prayerlessness, you may really be wrestling with an issue of pride.
Pride Defies God
Pride Defies God
We can see lessons on pride from the book of Proverbs.
These six things doth the Lord hate: Yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, Feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness that speaketh lies, And he that soweth discord among brethren.
Seven things God hates, and the number one is pride.
That ought to give us pause and open our understanding of how serious pride is to God.
We see in proverbs 16 and 5 that God sternly rebukes the sin of Pride.
Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Why, we ask, does God hate pride so much? Pride became the downfall of the devil.
Pride turned Lucifer, the son of the morning, into Satan, the father of the night.
Among Paul’s standards for a preacher was that he must be “not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil” (1 Timothy 3:6).
We see the ruin of humanity through Pride.
In the Garden of Eden, do you think the temptation was to taste a particular kind of fruit? No—the temptation was, “You will be like God.” (See Genesis 3:5.)
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
God lines Himself up in battle against the proud!
Perhaps, if we feel resistance, so to speak, from God....It may be a sign that we need to get a little pride under subjection to the spirit.
Pride Can Ruin the Heart
Pride Can Ruin the Heart
The seat of pride is the heart.
To do justice and judgment Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
An high look, and a proud heart, And the plowing of the wicked, is sin.
That is, a man who plows his field without giving God thanks for sun, rain, and germination is proud. He is “self-sufficient.”
We were born with pride and selfishness in our hearts.
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
These things are not learned; they are part of human nature.
If God resists the proud, then the proud man is out of fellowship with God. Any man, woman, or child who is out of fellowship with God will also be out of fellowship with other people.
Often times with people, we are not trying to solve the problem—we are trying to win the argument.
That is pride. You might be right and still be the problem because of your attitude.
Because of this, mankind can see their undeniable need for God…for God to change our hearts and minds....and this is exactly what he does.
Jesus’ Example of Humility
Jesus’ Example of Humility
Jesus showed us that the way up is down. that by being humble..we shall be exalted.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
God is going to give to His saints, who follow Christ in genuine humility, a greater position than Satan had before he fell.
The Bible says that we will judge angels (see 1 Corinthians 6:3)—and Satan is a fallen angel.
Satan know this and this is why he loves it when people are prideful....because he knows that God hates that and that it could separate us from God
Satan is out to destroy all that is God.
The book of Job says that they shall cry out, but he does not answer because of the pride of evil men
God does not want any to be lost but that all would come to repentance
When we find ourselves guilty of harboring pride in our lives we must, with a sincere heart, repent before God and allow him to change us
every sin in our lives must be fought against with all our might....this including PRIDE.
This lesson has forced me to examine my life and realize that I have pride that must be put under the blood....its a battle we must fight daily if we wish to be victorious and be in total subjection to the spirit.