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Pride

PRIDE vs Humility

by TerryLema

Last Sunday and this Sunday at The Way the message is Pride vs Humility. One of my favorite events in Scripture is found in the Book of Esther. It is also one of the best illustrations of PRIDE vs Humility.

Mordecai was Esther’s uncle, a righteous Jew. At the end of chapter 2, Mordecai learns of a plot to assassinate King Ahasuerus. He reports it to Queen Esther who then tells the king on Mordecai’s behalf. The plot thickens in Chapter 3 when the king honors a man named Haman. The king promotes him in rank and gives the command that everyone must bow down and pay homage to Haman. Mordecai will not do so, which enrages Haman. Haman plots to execute Mordecai and annihilate Mordecai’s people. That is when God enters the picture. God prepares Esther to intervene with the king at Mordecai’s request. Her rescue comes in chapters 7-10.

But my favorite part of the book happens in chapter 6, before Esther’s daring visit with the king and the rescue of her people. Chapter 6 is the duel between PRIDE and Humility.

I believe that God caused the king to have a restless night without sleep. During that night, while reading the record book of daily events, the king learns that Mordecai had foiled the plot of the assassins but had never been rewarded for it.  He decides to honor Mordecai and looks around for someone to carry out that command. Wouldn’t you know, the first person on the scene is Haman who is coming to demand Mordecai be executed because of his refusal to bow.

Haman is commanded to put a royal garment on Mordecai, place him on the king’s horse and parade him around the city square shouting, “This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.” [6:9 HCSB]

Haman’s PRIDE and Mordecai’s Humility came to blows and PRIDE lost. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” [Prov 16:18]

Makes we wonder how many people are going to be leading horses around heaven, and how many people will be seated on them!

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Ridding Our Hearts of Pride …

by TerryLema

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!

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Pride Hides Behind …

by TerryLema

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.

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Pride Cometh …

by TerryLema

Last Sunday at The Way we looked at Isaiah 2 and considered God’s warning against spiritual pride.

“Human pride will be humbled, and the loftiness of men will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted on that day. For a day belonging to the Lord of Hosts is coming against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—it will be humbled.” [2:11-12 HCSB]

God looks with great kindness and compassion on those who are humble and contrite, but He will not share His throne or glory with the proud. It never goes well for people who harbor spiritual pride.

Yet, spiritual pride is something the church must battle continually, both corporately and as individuals. It is something we must be diligent to root out of our midst by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The first and worst cause of errors that abound in our day and age is spiritual pride. This is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christ.” (Undetected Spiritual Pride, One Cause of Failure in Times of Great Revival*)

Edwards in his essay lists seven subtle symptoms of spiritual pride that we must be aware of, for when pride enters the Church, we incur God’s disfavor and judgment will soon follow.

We would do well to pray every day that God would highlight any seed of pride trying to take root in us.  “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” [Psalm 139:23-24 HCSB]

*  https://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works1.ix.v.i.html

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I Am Humble!

by TerryLema

Ever try to be humble?  Maybe you have been reminded by the Holy Spirit that you need to be more Christ-like in your attitude than you currently are, as Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:5 to “Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus.”

So, you work at humility. You think you nailed it. You start thinking, I am humble(!), which of course defeats humility right then and there.  Humility is difficult because if we focus our attention on it, or if we chase it, we end up catching pride instead.

Paul gave us the recipe for humility.  “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” [Philippians 2:3-4]

Humility is not trying to think less of ourselves, it is not thinking of ourselves first. It is considering the welfare of others more important and looking out for their well-being. Throughout the Scriptures are pathways to humility and they always lead us through the lives of others.

Let us understand. We are to provide for our needs and families surely, Scriptures are clear on that. We are to practice good spiritual self-care. But, when others need our time, our resources, our provisions, our encouragement, good will, comfort, or compassion—and we can provide those things—then we are to provide them. We give even if it means we sacrifice to do so. Most of us have far more than we really need anyway.

Perhaps, the most precious of all things we have to give others in need is our time. When we spend our time for others, humility slips in and takes up residence in our hearts.

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