TRUTH
FOR TODAY
Jun
Malazo
Over
a year and a half ago, my second son began to experience pain and tightness in
the area of his heart. He had complained
about this when he was a little boy, but now as a teenager the pain is more
frequent and intense. This caused my
wife and me to take some serious steps in our lives.
This meant numerous doctor’s appointments
at several different hospitals in the Philippines. We’ve had to travel a great distance for our
son to be seen by many specialists. While
still living in Canada, hospital visits were also frequent as we dealt with our
other children’s health conditions during their early childhood years.
I’ve noticed something that is common in
every hospital that I have visited. In
every hospital there is always a designated area called a “quarantine room” or
an “isolation room.” These types of
areas are also found in airports all around the world.
The whole idea of a quarantine room or an
isolation room is to contain and control something that may be dangerous to the
general public.
In hospitals, many are quarantined for serious
illnesses in order to prevent a potential pandemic disease. Governments and other organizations around
the world take these matters seriously.
They know that once something dangerous becomes uncontrolled it has the
potential to cause irreversible and catastrophic events.
***
Pride is a serious problem. It is often left unchecked and uncontrolled
which always brings devastating results in our lives. The Bible is replete with warnings about the
problem of pride and its potential danger.
At some point in your life you have fallen prey to the peril of
pride. It will be something all of us
will struggle with for the rest of our lives.
But there is a remedy.
First, we need to understand what pride
is. Pride in its simplest definition is
the promotion and exaltation of self.
Jeff Redlin, pastor and author, says the following about pride:
“It resists instruction and
submission. Pride is hidden when it is
coddled, and it flares when its demands are denied. It easily finds fault in others and struggles
to give genuine praise. It is hellish in
every form.”
It is pride that makes me want my way no
matter what others may think or feel.
Pride gives no room for grace.
Pride’s ultimate goal is to please self.
Secondly, it is important for us
understand how God views pride. Pride,
no matter how you view it, is sin in God’s eyes. Notice the strong words used in the following
verses about the sin of pride:
"The fear of the LORD is to hate
evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I
hate." (Proverbs 8:13)
"These six things doth the LORD
hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and
hands that shed innocent blood," (Proverbs 6:16-17)
People from all types backgrounds often
make a common but major mistake thinking that God is just all love. It is true that love is one of God’s
characteristics. However, He is also
just and holy. According to the verses
above, there are a number of things He hates.
In fact, God hates the sin of pride so
much that it caused Lucifer alongside of a third of the heavenly hosts to be
kicked out of heaven (see Isaiah 14:12-14).
Lucifer, who became Satan, wanted to be like God in power but not in
character.
Thirdly, it is also important for us to
understand God’s attitude towards the sin of pride. I believe this is a most crucial fact that
Christians need to understand. Notice
the following verse:
"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore
he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the
humble." (James 4:6)
The word resisteth means that God opposes
the proud. He positions Himself opposite
the person walking in pride. It means to
oppose as in battle. Let me ask you, do
you want to go to battle against God?
This is very crucial because we need God’s help in every area of our
lives. Without God we can do
nothing. For God to resist or oppose us
means we cannot have spiritual victory in our lives. It will also mean that our prayers will be
hindered.
It is really hard to completely
comprehend the wide-reaching extent of what pride will do to our lives. Here are a few characteristics of pride that
will hopefully help us gain a better understanding of its damaging
effects. First, pride is deceptive. Since pride exalts self, it blinds us from
seeing the truth. It distorts our view
of God, others, and of self. It gives us
a false view of who we are. It also
gives us a false sense of entitlement.
Pride hinders us from doing what is right in God’s eyes.
David was a great man of God. He is known to Bible scholars as “the man
after God’s own heart.” God allowed him
to accomplish great things in his life as he became one of the greatest king
Israel has ever known. Yet, pride
destroyed his life. Pride led him to
think that he could get away with sin.
His sin led to the destruction of his kingdom and his family.
"Pride goeth before destruction, and
an haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)
The second characteristic of pride is
that it is divisive. Pride is the source
of all broken relationships. Notice the
verse below:
"Only by pride cometh contention:
but with the well advised is wisdom." (Proverbs 13:10)
The word contention comes from a Hebrew
word that means a quarrel, debate or strife.
Pride is the source of all divisions in communities, churches, families,
marriages, and work places. If pride is
not restrained, it can ruin relationships for generations to come as it keeps
us trapped in a vicious cycle. Pride
keeps us from acknowledging our wrongdoing.
If there is no acknowledgment of any
wrong doing, then true repentance and forgiveness can never take place. In turn, healing doesn’t happen as we hold
onto our pride and the cycle continues.
Lastly, pride is destructive.
"A man's pride shall bring him low:
but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit." (Proverbs 29:23)
The sin of pride gives ground for the
Satan to gain control of our lives.
Satan will plant seeds of wrong thoughts in our minds. He makes us focus on our hurt feelings, our
rights, and our needs. Pride is so
destructive that it makes us think only of ourselves by fulfilling our selfish
desires while hurting others along the way.
So how do we contain and control pride so
it will not make our lives miserable?
Getting back to my visits in various
hospitals, another fact I have noticed is that several types of trash bins are
found in hospital observation rooms. A
special bin, usually found mounted on the wall, is for containing used syringes
and other medical supplies that may carry infectious diseases. It is sealed tightly and clearly
labelled. Why do you think the hospital
administration enforces such a policy?
Why can’t the trash just be mixed in one general container? The answer, of course, is to prevent potential
danger to others. Pride, once we detect
it, must be contained, sealed and taken away.
Pride is something that is ingrained in
our sinful nature. It will be something
that we will have to deal with for the rest of our earthly lives. Every single day we will be confronted with
choosing self or others first. How we
respond to it is what will matter.
We can never stop people from doing
hurtful things to us, but we can always control how we respond to them. The key to the remedy for pride is the choice
of how we will act when the feeling of pride whelms up in our heart. There are two ways we can respond to
pride.
We can feed our pride or we can starve it
by choosing to respond in humility. When
we respond in humility, God will give us the grace to overcome the sin of
pride.
"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore
he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the
humble." (James 4:6)
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