Life Lesson: Pride

Pride is the root of all sin.
     
Psalm 10:4
In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Pride is a serious sin that we often neglect. Therefore, many people don't realize that they are prideful. Moreover, pride is the sin the got Satan kicked out of heaven. The opposite of pride is humility.

When do we know that there is pride in our hearts and lives?

- taking credit for what the Lord has done in our lives.
-unwilling to forgive others or ask for forgiveness.
- not giving God the glory that He deserves.
-giving advice but unwilling to ask or accept others advice.
- taking credit for others have done.
- thinking less of God and others and thinking more of ourselves.
- not surrendering to God's will and plans in our lives.
- wanting to take control.
- pleasing people and or ourselves and not God.
- thinking too much of what others think about us and not what God thinks about us.
- refusing to obey God.
- thinking that we are better than others.
- thinking that we are better than God.
- refusing to admit our own mistakes, faults and weaknesses.
- pretending to be someone that we are not.
- not listening to God.
- not listening to others suggestions, explanations etc.
- not able to accept constructive criticisms.
- thinking that we know better than God.

Why should we evict pride in our lives?

1. God is opposed to the proud.
Whenever we are prideful we are on the opposite side of God. We will not be able to receive God's grace if we are prideful.
     
James 4:6 (ESV)
But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

2. We don't need pride in our lives.
There is no need of pride in our lives for God will humble those who are prideful. So there's no need to be prideful because He will humble us anyway. If we want to be lifted up then we should choose humility.
   
Matthew 23:12 (NIV)
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
   
1 Peter 5:6 (NIV)
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.

Proverbs 16:5 (NIV)
The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
     
3. Pride destroys relationships.
Pride produces conflict and destroys our relationship with God and other people especially those who are closest to us. I have seen families, marriages and friendships that were destroyed because of pride.

 Proverbs 13:10 (NIV)
When there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

Proverbs 28:25 (NKJV)
He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, But he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered.

4. Pride precedes to failure.
Some people fail in their relationships, lose their jobs and some other things in their lives leads to failure because they can't let go of their pride.

Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

5. Pride prevents spiritual growth.
Because of pride we are unable to admit and repent of our sins and thus prevents us from growing spiritually.
     
Proverbs 10:17 (CEV)
Accept correction and you will find life; reject correction , and you will miss the road.

 6. Even Jesus Christ humbled himself.
There's no reason for us to be prideful for even Jesus Christ, the Son of God humbled himself to us. He is our model of humility.

Philippians 2:3-7 (NIV)
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage: rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

How do we evict pride in our hearts and lives?
     
1. Look up! Never forget where you came from! Never forget everything that we are and we have is a gift from God!

 I'am struggling with pride and I did not even noticed it. When God revealed this to me at first I was ignoring it. But God pressed it on me and I started to searched the internet about pride. I watched the preach of Pastor Rick Warren on youtube with the title: "When God tests you with success". I suggest that you should watch this too. I prayed for God's guidance. It was not easy for me to get rid of pride in my life. It was also hard to accept that I'am prideful and unwilling to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord in my life. I could say that aloud that I accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of my life and that my life in under new management and Jesus is the CEO of my life. But then God convicted me that in my heart it was the opposite of what I have said. God can see through me and knows me well. It was not on my heart to repent and change my ways and that is because of my pride. So I prayed to God to help me and I slept that night. The next morning as I woke up God made me remember a verse that I read in the bible before:
Genesis 18:27 (NIV)
Then Abraham spoke up again, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I'am nothing but dust and ashes, "

This verse brought another memory of the verse in the bible that I have read in Genesis 3:19c "From dust you are and to dust you will return."
From those verses that God revealed to me I cried with my heart as I accepted that I have sinned the sin of pride, repented of it and start praising God. I realized that I should always look back from the beginning or from where I came from.That humbles me and broke my sin of pride. It is no doubt true that God loves me. But the world does not revolved around me. It's not about me but it's all about God. God is still in control, all-powerful and all-knowing. We  should not forget who we are and who God is. I felt God's forgiveness, mercy and grace towards me. This does not mean that I don't sin anymore. We should always listen to the conviction and guidance of the Holy Spirit, humbly admit our mistakes to God and repent of our sins. If you ever forget or sin of pride again just remember the reason why we need to erase pride in our lives, the steps on how to evict pride and the bible verses in this article. Meditate on the verses and pray to God to help you. We cannot do this on our own. We need God's help to take out pride in our lives.

No matter what situation we face if we experience success, failure, pain or disappointment we replace pride with praise. As Job praised God:
   
Job 1:21
and said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised."

Remember that God gave you everything that you have, your talents, skills, abilities and all the things you have and the people around you here on earth. We came here naked as Job said and naked we will depart. We should be grateful of everything that He has done for us and give Him all the credit and glory that He deserves. This also humbles us. We must remember and be grateful of the sacrifices that the Lord Jesus has done for us. For dying on the cross for our sins and for God the Father for giving up His son for our salvation. We see that we depend on God for everything in our lives.

2 Thessalonians 1:2
Our God gives you everything you need, makes you everything you're to be.

2. Look around! Never forget other people!
       
Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.              -Pastor Rick Warren.
         
When we are busy thinking of others we don't have time to think about ourselves. Serving others makes us humble and humility is the antidote of pride. If we want to get rid of pride we think of ourselves less and more of others.

Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV)
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of others.

What is the good pride?
Based on a pride for others who are living in obedience to God.

2 Chronicles 17:6 (NASB)
He took great pride in the ways of the LORD and again removed the high places and the Asherim of Judah.


My prayer for you:          
*I pray that the Lord would help all of us in our struggle with pride. That the Holy Spirit may guide us and convict our hearts every time we slip into the sin of pride. That the Lord would give us wisdom and reveal to us the sin of pride in our lives. May the Lord remind us of where we came from, that we came from dust and that He gave us life, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus in the Calvary and everything that we have is from the Lord. Today choose to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. 
In Jesus Name we pray. Amen.