Pride

Have you ever noticed how unbecoming of someone their pride is? I'm not talking about the quiet pride of a job well done or of a child who has accomplished some goal that they worked hard to accomplish. I'm speaking of the pride that rears its ugly head, making us feel that we have done it all on our own or could do it without the help of the Lord.

We are all guilty of this. Have you found yourself speaking of your sinful past in a prideful manner? For example, instead of using your drug taking or drunken days to speak of the wonderful and totally undeserved grace of God, you use it to bring humor to a conversation. Sitting in a group of people who are glorifying the act of getting drunk you begin to mention that "there was this one time when me and a group of buddies got so drunk that we ...." Or how about that time when you did something really great at work/home/school and every time you get the chance you bring up how well you did at -insert whatever you did here-?

It is quite ugly, isn't it? Nearly all of the times that pride is mentioned in the bible it mentions a fall afterwards.

1 Samuel 2:3
"Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.

2 Chronicles 26:16a
But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.

Psalm 10:4
In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Isaiah 2:11
The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

Isaiah 13:11
I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.

Daniel 5:20
But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.

Obadiah 1:3
The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?'

Luke 1:51
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

Romans 12:16
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

James 4:6
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."


I don't want to overwhelm you with more scriptures regarding pride and being proud, but I want you to see what I am seeing. I can see it in my own life as well as the lives of others, and it IS ugly. Not all pride is sinful pride. Taking pride in Christ, being proud of someone who has done a good job and taking pride in the work you do is not a bad thing. It is when that pride takes over and you become a proud person that the pride is a sinful pride. When you elevate yourself above the Lord and above others, that is when it is sin. When you bring your sin glory instead of making sure your speech glorifies the Lord, that is when your pride is sin.

So how do we fix this issue of sinful pride? Asking the Lord to cleanse our hearts and our minds is the first step. We must fall on our faces before Him and show Him that HE alone is how we can do ANY good at all. HE is God. WE are not.

Psalm 51:7
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Psalm 86:10
For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.

Psalm 149:4
For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.

James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.


Humility is not a human trait that has come easily since the fall of man. Many view it as a "weak" human trait. However, we should not be looking at how men view us, but instead on how God views us! I love how Paul words this to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 1:25-31:

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."


May the Lord bless you as you humbly seek to follow Him!