Pride Part 2

The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. Proverbs 16:5 (NIV)

When we look at a group picture that we are in what makes us decide if it is a good picture or not? How we look in it! The picture could be of fifty people all smiling nicely but if I am blinking – I think it is a bad picture.

Pride is thinking more of yourself then you ought. It is the first of the “7 deadly sins”. I would argue that pride is the root of all other sins. It goes against the first commandment by putting ourselves as a god in place of God. We think we deserve more than we have, so we steal. We think people were put on earth for our pleasure, so we lust. Just look at the temptations the serpent used on Eve:

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV)

First the serpent calls God a liar and then he says God is holding her back from something good. It is our pride that makes us sin. We fool ourselves into thinking we deserve to sin and fool ourselves into thinking that God doesn’t really know what He is doing when He forbids it.

Pride was the sin that caused Satan to fall.

12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." Isaiah 14:12-14 (NIV)

Pride is putting ourselves in God’s place. Thinking of ourselves higher than we ought is really hard to counteract without putting ourselves down (this is what the next blog will be on). It is better to counteract it by recognizing God’s rightful place and seeing ourselves in light of Him. God is our creator, sustainer and redeemer. Apart from Him we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). How can we take the credit for anything we do? It is only by His grace that we can even breathe. Don Miller put it well in his book, Blue Like Jazz: “the toughest lie that I've ever had to contend with was that life was a story about me.” We are only minor characters in God’s story. We are important to Him but we are only important because of Him.

I know when I am at work I struggle all the time with seeing myself properly. I think CH is here to meet my needs. I think that the schedule, procedures and practices should revolve around what is easiest for me. I forget that if it were not for God’s mission to love and care for the people we serve none of us would be here. If we didn’t have individuals to serve there would not be a Christian Horizons. God gives us energy, opportunity and skill to build His kingdom, not our own. If we see Him for who He really, is we will not think too much of ourselves.

Here is a passage that indicates who we are in relation to the LORD:

6 A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." 9 You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" 10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? 14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? 15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Isaiah 40:6-15 (NIV)

Yesterday I was reading a hymn by John Wesley. This is the first verse:

Lord Jesus, Thy great love to me
No thought can reach no tongue declare:
O bend my wayward heart to Thee
And reign without a rival there;
Thine, wholly Thine, alone I’d live
Myself to Thee entirely give.

Mark Wallace