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God Resisteth The Proud
What is pride? It is an excessive sense of one’s own importance or superiority or having inordinate self-esteem, or being arrogant or conceited. The Bible never uses the word “pride” or “proud” in a good sense as some men sometimes do in referring to self-respect. Other words like “well pleased”, “glad”, “delighted”, “happy”, or “gratified” would serve as good substitutions for “pride”.
Can you determine what causes pride? Religious privileges over a period of time may bring about pride. The JEws are classic examples. They believed that being Abraham’s seed in the flesh gave them special significance before God. Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and to have salutations in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues, and chief places at feasts” (Mark 12:38,39). All Christians in every place need this warning!
Knowledge can create pride. “Knowledge puffeth up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Knowledge is necessary to establish the difference between right and wrong. We need to know all we can in order to avoid the pitfalls of bad decisions. Do not let this make us proud and feel superior to those who are unlearned.
Riches can make us proud. Paul charged those who are “rich in this world, that they be not highminded, and trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Those who exalt their financial well-being are often rejected by others. Take a serious look at yourself and see if there is any pride.
How can you tell the proud from the humble? One of the evidences is personal boasting and self compliments. Review the prayer of the Pharisee in Luke 18. He had the gall to tell the Lord how good he was and the good things he had done. When you find yourself telling others how great you are or when you find yourself even thinking how great you are, beware. Pride lurks close.
Pride is evident when arguments about words and questions are raised in order to seek some means of self-justification (1 Timothy 6:3,4). “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thought” (Psalm 10:4). Do you suppose that some who have not obeyed the gospel might have to give up a practice or lose face among their peers - a matter of pride?
Strife is evidence of pride’s presence. “He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife” (Proverbs 28:35). The next time you witness strife in a home, work, or church, see if pride is not the greatest contributing factor.
Treating others with contempt is also evidence of pride’s presence. People can show their pride by the look on their face. It is the “proud look” God considers an abomination (Proverbs 6:17). We need to consider the thought of Romans 12:3: “For I say, though the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think…”
Be careful not to let pride deceive you! Edom thought they were safe living in high places. God told Obadiah to tell them He would bring them down. Remember the truthful saying, “God resisteth the proud”!
