The Problem with Pride
“The Lord hates those who are proud. They will surely be punished.”- Proverbs 16:5
Pride is a big problem among people and even among Christians today. We need to remember that God hates pride. He knows how pride can affect our hearts and minds and our relationship with Him. Pride can easily overtake our lives very fast and when it does, we start to think that we do not need God and turn to ourselves for strength, power, and earthly things. When we become prideful, we also have the tendency to turn against God. Pride can also make us think we are better than other people.
Satan is an example on how pride can affect our hearts and minds and ruin our relationship with God. Satan turned against God after He gave him beauty, power, and the highest position in heaven. Satan believed he had enough power to overtake God’s throne in heaven (Revelation 12:7-9). After tying to overtake God's throne, he was cast out of heaven and now roams the earth (1 Peter 5:8). Satan used to be the most powerful and beautiful angel before pride overtook him but now is separated from God forever (2 Peter 2:4).
Pride can also affect people who believe they are “too” righteous or good. Jesus tells a story in Luke 18:10-14 of people who thought they were good and looked down on everyone else like the Pharisees, “A Pharisee and a tax collector both went to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee stood alone and prayed, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people who steal, cheat, or take part in adultery, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give one-tenth of everything I get!’”
Jesus goes on to say, “The tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even look up to heaven. But he beat on his chest because he was so sad. He said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you, when this man went home, he was right with God, but the Pharisee was not.”
It is worth being humble and not to think we are better than others because “All who make themselves great will be made humble, but all who make themselves humble will be made great (Luke 18:14)."
Here is a verse to remember if you struggle with pride, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”-James 4:6
Prayer of the day:
Dear heavenly Father,
You hate pride. Pride is sinful and causes us to turn against You. Help us to stay away from the desire to become prideful. It is a dangerous sin that we learned from people in the Bible like Satan, the Pharisees and the Scribes. We know we have the tendency to become prideful too. Help us to hate it because it can cause broken relationships, including ours, that we have with You. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
