P R I D E

When you think of being prideful, what is the first thing that comes to mind? By definition, being prideful means thinking too highly of oneself; conceited, arrogant, or overconfident. The sin of pride expresses itself in many ways, some of which I will be discussing today. Time and time again in scripture, we see pride bringing people to the end of themselves. The devil himself got quite literally whooped out of Heaven by Michael the archangel because he was haughty and thought he could be like God because even the devil in all of his stupidity knows he can’t be God. Subsequently, he took out his anger first on God’s wonderful creation Eve (a pure, unsuspecting, theoretical infant), perverted her sense of being and coaxed her into feeling discontentment with what she had. And mind you, she had it all. Now, the world is living in a carefully constructed web of lies telling us that we too can be our own little ‘g’ gods, leading hedonistic lifestyles. His aim is to make mankind face the same fate that he was given, having forfeited paradise for an eternity of imminent and utter ruin. Pride will lead you to live a life similar to a bucket with a hole in the bottom; no matter how much/what you fill it with, it’s still empty.

As Christians, our objective is to glorify God, not ourselves. Unfortunately, too many times in the church, we see men and women attempting to bring glory to themselves through the gifts that God has given them. When your heart is more set on the way that people praise you rather than the reason you are praising, that definitely warrants a heart check. The scary fact is that many start off well and then get a taste of what the world can offer them, leaving the narrow road behind to fulfill their childhood ambitions of acquiring recognition from the masses. Pride loves being seen and praised, it sees itself higher than others (“Before destruction a man's heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.” –Proverbs 18:12), pride is vain (“Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,” Proverbs 31:30A), it cannot be corrected (“A man who hardens his neck after much reproof Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.” –Proverbs 29:1), is self-important, and is entitled. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Let’s be real—prideful people are often hard to stomach. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone that just can’t stop bragging on themselves? You know the ‘womp, womp, womp’ noise in Charlie Brown when the parents were talking? That’s all there is to be heard. Proverbs 27:2, “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips.” Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that there is anything wrong with being happy about the accomplishments that you’ve made, glory to God, and sharing that with people, but when it turns into a TedTalk about how special or gifted you are/how many great things you’ve done time and time again without any breathing room for other parties involved in the conversation, one starts to wonder: “What’s for dinner?”, “Did I forget to put my clothes in the dryer?”, and most importantly, “Where is the nearest exit?” Many of us have been prideful at one point or another and maybe even now could be struggling with it. To be honest, it can be a constant temptation as we grow in Christ and He blesses us and allows us to do things that we could never imagine doing. The great news is that it isn’t too late to repent and ask that God give us humble and clean hearts.

What could the root of pride be, you might be wondering? Well, I am glad you asked. Travel with me back to a time when the earth was new and sin had freshly entered into it. Genesis 4:4-7 reads: “Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Not only did Cain not bring out a bloodless offering (“For the wages of sin is death;” Romans 6:23A [we also see an example of this by God making the first sacrifice of bloodshed when He clothed Adam and Eve in the garden, killing an animal to atone for their sin]), he brought God his ‘meh’. When God rightfully disregarded his inconsiderate offering, he felt rejected, offended, and started to plot revenge against his brother who pleased God.

I thank my sisters in Christ for introducing a group of us ladies to a book called Overcoming Rejection by Frank Hammond. In it, he gets into describing something he coins ‘The Demonic Tree’. Rejection is the theoretical trunk and the branches include (but are not limited to) unteachableness, defiance, isolation, escapism, low-self esteem, and PRIDE. There is a whole rabbit hole that I could go down regarding this book and the topics therein regarding more facets of the spirit of rejection and so on, but I will try to keep this fairly cut and dry. I don’t know about you guys, but it really is fascinating to deconstruct a thing and get to the root of the ‘why’. One of my favorite shows growing up was ‘How It’s Made’ because you got to see the intricate inter workings of a created thing; the elements perfectly aligning to create something functional. Why do people act the way they act? Knowing the root doesn’t excuse the behavior, but it helps give insight as to what is going on.

Personally, before knowing Christ, I suffered greatly from the spirit of rejection. This caused me to thrive yet crumble in the field that I was working in because I was just another broken doll on the island of misfit toys. The environment fostered brokenness, and it manifested itself in different ways through various people. I didn’t understand why the women that worked with me (and some men) were mean to me during our first few interactions and so instead of firing back verbally which is against my nature, I decided to play on their insecurities and stunt on them. If you are unfamiliar with the terminology, I basically made it a point to outdo them in every possible way. New hair every other week, new car, getting loads of money, an hour spent on just makeup, legs ALL the way out in dresses I could barely breathe in…I even came into work wearing a floor length faux-fur coat multiple times. CRIIIIIIIINGE, I know, but glory to God for cringe moments because you know you’ve grown. That pride in how I looked, in the amount of money that I made, and things that I could acquire had come from a seed of rejection planted in childhood. I felt as though if I supplemented all that hurt with things, it’d somehow fulfill me, but it only led me to feeling even more broken and empty.

Think about this for a second: if Jesus Christ, the literal King of Kings and Lord of Lords can humble Himself enough to leave, not Hawaii, not Sandals Resorts—HEAVEN *blink, blink*…You know, the place where love abounds and there is no sickness, death, or pain, but fullness of joy, love, and frolicking: true paradise…to come HERE to become a mere mortal and dwell among us (John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”), then who are we to puff our chests out and act like we’re rock stars? “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”—2 Chronicles 7:14. If this message pricked you heart, simply pray from Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” and know that it is never over until it’s finished. The sin of pride might be crouching at the door, but with the power of God’s Holy Spirit, you can rule over it.