Proverbs 16:18: “Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.” [HCSB]
A few years ago we studied the Minor Prophets for a Wednesday Night Bible Study, doing a survey of one a week. One of the attendees remarked that they were so heavy with warnings and judgments. They also dwelt with pride over and over.
God will not abide with pride, especially in His children. Pride can bring us down faster than any other sin. But pride, as Jonathan Edwards wrote, is often undetected, veiled behind other attitudes we allow to creep into our hearts and minds. Edwards, in his essay “Undetected Spiritual Pride, One Cause of Failure in Times of Great Revival,” listed seven such attitudes reflective of pride. Here they are:
1-Fault Finding (Seeing the good in our own lives but only the evil in others.)
2-A Harsh Spirit (Speaking of others’ sins with contempt, irritation, frustration, and judgment instead of with the humility and gentleness as Christ treats us)
3-Superficiality (More concern about how others perceive us than we are with the truth in our own hearts. Too often we allow the sins that no one else notices to flourish.)
4-Defensiveness (Becoming defensive when challenged or corrected. Instead of getting quieter and taking those things to God, we get louder and go on the attack.)
5-Presumption Before God (Forgetting in our boldness before God that He is God! “Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling.” Psalm 2:11)
6-Desperation for Attention (Hungry for attention, respect, and praise. Edwards wrote, “The eminently humble Christian thinks he needs help from everybody, whereas he that is spiritually proud thinks everybody needs his help.”)
7-Neglecting Others (Ignoring the plight of the weak and unattractive who cannot add much to our lives and pursuing those the world deems worthy of respecting.)
Pride is not very pretty is it? We would do well to check our hearts and minds consistently to see if any of those little undetected attitudes of pride are attempting to take root in us.
Father, reveal to us our pride and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, remove it from our hearts and minds. Amen.