Do you struggle with personal pride? I do. Do you succumb to the worlds pressure to celebrate pride this month? I do not! Do you understand how wrong it is to celebrate pride? Are you willing to stand up against the world and refuse to celebrate pride? Let me tell you what God has taught me about how pride destroys hope.
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 (ESV) I could probably end m y blog with just this quote from the Bible and my point would be well taken but there are so many verses about pride in the Bible that I feel I need to say more. Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of eviland perverted speech I hate. (ESV) Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (ESV) Proverbs 16:5 says. “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” (ESV) So in just these three verses I have learned that the prideful will fall and be destroyed. The prideful God hates it. Disgrace will come to the proud and a prideful heart is an abomination. So do you still want to celebrate pride?
What then should I do? James 4:6 tells me to be humble. “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (ESV) Paul tells me to live in harmony with others “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.” (ESV) Paul also tells me that I deceive myself in Galatians 6:3, “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (ESV)
One last thing John tells me in 1 John 2:16 that pride does not come from God it comes from the world. “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” (ESV) I do not know about you but I will ask God for help to not be proud and I will certainly not celebrate pride.
I pray you will not fall into the trap of Satan and succumb to the world around you and celebrate pride month. Pride is not a virtue it is a sin. Remember though that all sin is forgivable except the sin of unbelieve in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for my sins and yours as well. It satisfied all my sins from te past, in the present, and in the future. My penalty and yours were satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because wisdom shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here. You can watch a book trailer about my book. You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here. eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press
