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Overcoming Pride
Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 5:5-6, Daniel 4
Today's Treasure: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).
If every believer had a spiritual day planner complete with a "to do" list, we might find one common denominator—the challenge to overcome pride is at the top. Perhaps no other spiritual obstacle is quite like this one. A simple reason exists for its Goliath proportions: pride is Satan's specialty.
Pride is the characteristic that most aptly describes him. It is the issue that had him expelled from heaven. It is still one of Satan's most successful tools in discouraging people from accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking that pride is a problem only for the lost. The most effective means the enemy has to keep believers from being full of the Spirit is to keep us full of ourselves. No wonder the Bible states and restates that God hates pride. It is the enemy of genuine ministry. It is the end of many homes.
Scripture exhorts believers, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand" (1 Peter 5:6). God's Word also makes that very unsettling statement in Daniel 4:37: "Those who walk in pride he is able to humble." I believe the sum total of those two verses is that we can humble ourselves, or God can humble us. God won't put up with pride in His own children very long without dealing with it. He's much too faithful—and far too much is at stake. I know from personal experience that humbling ourselves is far less painful than inviting God to humble us. He tends to make sure His lessons "take." I am absolutely convinced that the most painful season God has taken me through to date was primarily to shatter my yoke of pride. A yoke, incidentally, I didn't even recognize I had. Believe me, I'm on the lookout for it now every single day.
In some ways, Christians have to be more alert to pride than anyone. If we don't presently have an issue that is actively humbling us, we veer with disturbing velocity toward arrogance and self-righteousness. We are wise to remember that Christ never resisted the repentant sinner. He resisted the religious proud and Pharisaic. Remember, pride wears many masks. I once spoke on pride only to have someone remark afterward that she had far too little self-esteem to have pride. Pride is not the opposite of low self-esteem, but rather the opposite of humility. We can have a serious pride problem that masquerades as low self-esteem. Pride is self-absorption whether we're absorbed with how miserable we are or how wonderful we are. We are wise to be on the constant lookout for pride in our lives. I believe we can safely say that if we're not deliberately taking measures to combat pride, it's probably doing something to combat humility.
Pride is the welcome mat in every figurative prison cell. All we have to do to remain bound in any area is to refuse to take responsibility for our strongholds and repent of the sin involved. Pride is a monumental boulder in the path toward breaking free.
These are some thoughts God gave me on the subject several years ago. May He use them to speak about the biggest injustice of pride: it cheats wherever it plays.
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny...because
you demand your own way.
I cheat you of contentment...because you
"deserve better than this."
I cheat you of knowledge...because you already
know it all.
I cheat you of healing...because you're
too full of me to forgive.
I cheat you of holiness...because you refuse to
admit when you're wrong.
I cheat you of vision...because you'd rather look
in the mirror than out a window.
I cheat you of a genuine friendship...because
nobody's going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love...because real romance
demands sacrifice.
I cheat you of greatness in heaven...because you
refuse to wash another's feet on earth.
I cheat you of God's glory...because I convince
you to seek your own.
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you.
Untrue. I'm looking to make a fool of you.
God has so much for you, I admit, but don't worry...
If you stick with me
You'll never know.
Lord, please help me to remember the ugliness of pride as I go about my day. Thank You for showing me the dreadful effects of this sin. How I want to live a righteous life, in the name of Jesus! Take out my prideful heart and give me instead a genuinely humble heart that is pleasing to You. I love You, gracious Lord. Amen.
Adapted from Praying God's Word, by Beth Moore, pages 57-60
Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 5:5-6, Daniel 4
Today's Treasure: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).
If every believer had a spiritual day planner complete with a "to do" list, we might find one common denominator—the challenge to overcome pride is at the top. Perhaps no other spiritual obstacle is quite like this one. A simple reason exists for its Goliath proportions: pride is Satan's specialty.
Pride is the characteristic that most aptly describes him. It is the issue that had him expelled from heaven. It is still one of Satan's most successful tools in discouraging people from accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking that pride is a problem only for the lost. The most effective means the enemy has to keep believers from being full of the Spirit is to keep us full of ourselves. No wonder the Bible states and restates that God hates pride. It is the enemy of genuine ministry. It is the end of many homes.
Scripture exhorts believers, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand" (1 Peter 5:6). God's Word also makes that very unsettling statement in Daniel 4:37: "Those who walk in pride he is able to humble." I believe the sum total of those two verses is that we can humble ourselves, or God can humble us. God won't put up with pride in His own children very long without dealing with it. He's much too faithful—and far too much is at stake. I know from personal experience that humbling ourselves is far less painful than inviting God to humble us. He tends to make sure His lessons "take." I am absolutely convinced that the most painful season God has taken me through to date was primarily to shatter my yoke of pride. A yoke, incidentally, I didn't even recognize I had. Believe me, I'm on the lookout for it now every single day.
In some ways, Christians have to be more alert to pride than anyone. If we don't presently have an issue that is actively humbling us, we veer with disturbing velocity toward arrogance and self-righteousness. We are wise to remember that Christ never resisted the repentant sinner. He resisted the religious proud and Pharisaic. Remember, pride wears many masks. I once spoke on pride only to have someone remark afterward that she had far too little self-esteem to have pride. Pride is not the opposite of low self-esteem, but rather the opposite of humility. We can have a serious pride problem that masquerades as low self-esteem. Pride is self-absorption whether we're absorbed with how miserable we are or how wonderful we are. We are wise to be on the constant lookout for pride in our lives. I believe we can safely say that if we're not deliberately taking measures to combat pride, it's probably doing something to combat humility.
Pride is the welcome mat in every figurative prison cell. All we have to do to remain bound in any area is to refuse to take responsibility for our strongholds and repent of the sin involved. Pride is a monumental boulder in the path toward breaking free.
These are some thoughts God gave me on the subject several years ago. May He use them to speak about the biggest injustice of pride: it cheats wherever it plays.
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny...because
you demand your own way.
I cheat you of contentment...because you
"deserve better than this."
I cheat you of knowledge...because you already
know it all.
I cheat you of healing...because you're
too full of me to forgive.
I cheat you of holiness...because you refuse to
admit when you're wrong.
I cheat you of vision...because you'd rather look
in the mirror than out a window.
I cheat you of a genuine friendship...because
nobody's going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love...because real romance
demands sacrifice.
I cheat you of greatness in heaven...because you
refuse to wash another's feet on earth.
I cheat you of God's glory...because I convince
you to seek your own.
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you.
Untrue. I'm looking to make a fool of you.
God has so much for you, I admit, but don't worry...
If you stick with me
You'll never know.
Lord, please help me to remember the ugliness of pride as I go about my day. Thank You for showing me the dreadful effects of this sin. How I want to live a righteous life, in the name of Jesus! Take out my prideful heart and give me instead a genuinely humble heart that is pleasing to You. I love You, gracious Lord. Amen.
Adapted from Praying God's Word, by Beth Moore, pages 57-60
