Pride, the Killer.

God is an enemy of the proud.

“He mocks the proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.” Proverbs 3:34

“Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

“All of you, clothe yourself with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” I Peter 5:5

God is an enemy of the proud. This is very visible in scripture. Above are just a few verses that talk about pride. There are so many more that speak on pride and how God hates it. In Proverbs 6, the writer mentions that there are six things that the Lord hates and 7 that are detestable to Him. One of the things the Lord hates is haughty eyes. Think about that. God doesn't say He hates haughty words or haughty actions (although He does hate those as well), but God says that He hates haughty eyes! Even if we can keep our words and actions under control, our eyes can still be haughty. Here, I think that God is simply looking at the heart condition of the individual. Indeed, “For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

I think that the majority of the time, our sin can be rooted in pridefulness. This is why God hates it so, for pride can lead to so many other kinds of sin.  For instance, my pride specifically leads me to believe that I am superior to others, and once that mindset is established, I exercise the idea by putting down others because they may be seen as inferior. What I need to realize and to put into practice is that, as a mere man, I am a depraved sinner who is entitled to nothing. 

The opposite of pride is humility. Humility is an extremely difficult characteristic to put into practice. I know from personal experience. I'm actually reading a book entitled, "Humility" by C.J Mahaney, and it is a great resource that teaches Christians in all walks of life to learn about and enact humility in their lives. Clearly, there is no room for pride in the life of a Christian, so it is up to us to kill this pride that creeps up on us so often. Overall, I think Warren Wiersbe says it best when he says, "Humility is not thinking lowly of yourself; it is not thinking of yourself at all." Humility is all about putting your flesh to death and living through the truths of Jesus Christ that we find in His Scriptures.