June 20th, 2012

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.  Proverbs 16:8

It is easy for any of us to get puffed up with pride over our accomplishments, beauty, intelligence, titles, family or possessions.  We must remember though, that all these things and everything that we have are given to us by God!  We cannot take credit for our beauty for instance because God is the one who created us to look the way that we do!  We did not have any input in terms of our eye color, hair color, skin color, or other physical attributes at birth.  We cannot even take credit for our faith.  I have heard Believers brag about their faith but the Bible is clear that “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).  I can even remember a few times becoming proud about starting a weight loss program and eating very healthy the first few days.  Often though, I would not continue this trend because I had gotten proud about how well “I was eating” and would fail miserably in my healthy eating quest.  This failure occurred because destruction always follows pride!  We have to be careful of pride because pride was the initial transgression against God by Satan.  The Bible records about Satan that “thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14).  It has been said that wherever you constantly see the word “I”, you see the spirit of Satan or pride.  Pride was the initial sin that led to Satan getting kicked out of heaven, which led to Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve, which led to the fall of man, which led to sin and death entering into the world.  Jesus was God Himself and the Creator of all things (John 1:3) but did not operate in pride but had a Spirit of Humility.  If anyone should have been puffed up it should have been Jesus but He Himself said, “I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29).  Nonetheless because of His humility, “God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Philippians 2:9-10).  Let us remember to walk in humility on today.