It’s finally the end of June and hopefully we won’t be bombarded any longer with those who take pride in their sin. But what we’ve seen in past years is that they’re no longer happy with just having a month, they want to arrogantly flaunt their sin in front of us in every aspect of culture, even to our children! Our pastor pointed out on Sunday that the moral crisis we’re living in either makes Christians bolder or quieter! Which are you?
Pro-life advocate Abby Johnson put into perspective what is so blatant, especially in the month of June. “Christians and conservatives began warning DECADES ago that the “Pride” and rainbow movement was not what it presented itself to be. It was never about “tolerance” but rather domination. It was never about “acceptance” but rather forced affirmation. In just a short time, the false rainbow movement has gone from asking for acceptance to flaunting Satan worship at pride marches across the globe. Oh, and in Seattle [and Toronto] this week, men without clothes on rode bicycles in front of children… with no pushback.”
God is clear why sexual sin is so abhorrent to Him! “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.” 1 Cor. 6:18
If you’re on social media, you’ve seen that some Christians have chosen to combat sinful “pride” month by posting Scriptures regarding pride and the moral and spiritual demise of those who choose pride over the antithesis of pride: humility.
In the New Living Translation God mentions “pride” 64 times. Why is God so against pride? Looking at one definition provides a window into the answer:
“Pride is a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired: the quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance: ‘the sin of pride.’"
At the heart of personal pride is ego, which the Bible says leads to vanity, self-importance, conceit, self-love, self-glorification, arrogance, insolence, vanity, boastfulness, haughtiness, and selfishness. Instead of following the Scriptures that tell us to look at others as more important than ourselves, pride leads to just the opposite and maybe even putting ourselves above God or trying to be gods.
The opposite of pride is unpretentious, discreet, modesty, lack of vanity, meekness (which the Bible tells us to strive for), reserve, politeness, selfless, humility.
Kirk Cameron, Christian actor an author, admits something we can all identify with: “At times, I’ve let the deadly sin of pride hold power in my life. Hindsight is always 20/20 and as I look back through the years, I see that HUMILITY is the key to living a joyful and successful life. While the Scriptures remind us that God “opposes the proud and exalts the humble,” some have set aside an entire month (to celebrate people's sexual preference) and dubbed it ‘Pride Month.’”
“This is why BRAVE Books and I are releasing a second children's book, focusing on the priceless virtue of humility. It’s called "Pride Comes Before the Fall" and in it, I teach children the importance of being humble and kind, and valuing others’ needs above their own.”
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Pr. 16:18
Kirk also asks a relevant question: “Is America focused on removal of a prideful spirit or focused on feeding the me monster? We have a whole month where some people dedicate it to focusing on themselves. Pride month and the promise of pride is that if I can win the adoration of me, I will be happy. But that’s a false hope. It’s a lie we know from Scripture.”
4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. 5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 1 Peter 5:4-6
Jim Caviezel, the actor who plays Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, said at a Flashpoint conference, “God has rewards He will handout. The world will cheer like mad until you fall, then they’ll forget you. His Hall of Fame are those who believe on His Son. I’d rather be an unknown name down here and have my name up there.” Me too!
Is Pride Always a Bad Thing?
The answer to that question is the context of how and why we feel proud: admiration versus arrogance. For example, we had two grandsons graduate from High School at the top of their class this year and their parents and my husband and I were so proud of their diligent accomplishments from working hard and studying to get good grades. We’re proud of the men they are becoming. But our pride doesn’t pat ourselves on the back, look at how great our grandkids are; our pride is that they chose on their own to do the best that they could with the gifts God has given each one.
Both of these boys are very humble and never touted their grades to receive praise and that makes us admire them even more. But they’ll soon learn that while you’re at the top of your class in high school, you might be at the bottom when you go to a bigger pool of students in college. Graduation day will be part of your history, but there’s always a new mountain to climb.
A South Carolina valedictorian of her public high school class, Lydia Owens, encouraged her classmates to find their joy and purpose in God. "No matter what your future holds, please remember that life is so much more than how successful you are. Even if you accomplish all of your dreams or none of them at all, you are still valuable and still good enough, because you are made in the image of God . . . You don’t have to worry about whether or not you’ll be successful because God promises that his grace is sufficient for us and his power is made perfect in our weakness." I’m sure her parents were proud of her humble boldness and courage, since she gave the glory to Jesus for inspiring her speech, not to herself.
Why Does the Bible Say Pride Goes Before a Fall?
1. God hates pride. That means Satan loves pride.
Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I [God] hate. Pr. 8:13
Isaiah warns what will happen by God on judgement day. Human pride will be brought down, and human arrogance will be humbled. Only the Lord will be exalted on that Day of Judgment. Is. 2:11 NLT
I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. Is. 13:11
An arrogant person stirs up strife, But one who trusts in the Lord will prosper.
Pr. 28:25 NASB
2. Self-focused pride is sin.
Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin. Pr. 21:4 NLT
That’s why God tells us to guard our heart: Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Pr. 4:23
We are to flee from sin, not celebrate it or be proud of sinning.
3. Christians should be Christ-like and humbly surrender to the Lord.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Pr. 11:2
Jesus is every Christian’s example of humility and from Him we take our lead.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil. 2:5-11
If our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who had every earthly reason to be prideful, could instead humble himself as a baby and willingly be tortured on a Cross for our salvation, those who are saved can surely learn and practice humility lest we fall into Satan’s trap of pride.
Prideful sin leads to judgement. Christ humbly offers salvation. Thank you Lord!
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Janet
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