James 4:6 reminds us that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
I cannot imagine life knowing that God was “resisting” me because of my proud attitude. I need grace, daily, sometimes moment-by-moment grace. I guess that means I need to root out any of those proud undetected attitudes of pride that I mentioned in yesterday’s devotion.
Just knowing they are there and that I need to rid my heart and mind of them is only the beginning, how do we actually do that when faced with our own pride? There are a few steps we can take.
First, we need to get a right view of God and our worship of Him. The only way to do that is to spend time in the Scriptures! We must learn everything we can about this God we claim. Through learning of Him, we will develop a right view of our relationship to Him. How did we come to Christ Jesus? We came with nothing to offer. No one brings anything to His Cross save repentance and surrender.
Once we know our God and how we are to relate to Him, we need to engage in self-examination, acknowledge any pride we find, repent, confess and receive His forgiveness. We must also submit to authority. One of the things about pride is that it will drive us away from others; pride tells us we know more than anyone else and do not need anyone to teach us. Lone Ranger Christians are just ripe to be picked off by the enemy. Remain teachable!
It also helps to have someone to whom we can be accountable. Find a prayer partner and tell them you are battling pride. Ask them to be honest with you.
Last, focus on others. Do good but do it quietly. Pride loves the limelight. Those things done in secret that only God knows about will help us in our battle against pride.
Father, drive pride far from me! Amen & Amen!
