We all know that the main reason the devil was put out of heaven was because of pride. He became arrogant and thought too much of himself, desiring to be God (Ezekiel 28:13-19). Today, due to our fallen nature because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we too are vulnerable to the influence of pride in our lives. Deep down we want to be ‘on top’, important, the best – and everybody must be aware of it. Pride lurks in all of us and can sometimes masquerade as false humility. Still, it is pride.
How do we recognise pride?
A proud person wants more for himself – he wants more acknowledgement. There is a deep desire for people to know that ‘I’ am important and that ‘I’ must be treated as important. Because ‘I’ am important, there is a set of rules applying to me that distinguishes me from others. A person filled with pride, believes he is superior and talks about himself and his life non-stop, often taking over conversations. Pride has many different facets in which it manifests: fault-finding, a ‘hard’ heart, superficiality, self-defence, arrogance, ungratefulness, entitlement, prayerlessness and rebellion.
Pride gets a grip on our lives when we believe that our human nature has some good in it and that we have the ability as human beings to do good on our own. Signs of pride are found in self-love, selfishness, self-pity and the quest for recognition, position, power and all forms of self-centredness. Hypocrisy, religiosity and hidden sin are all rooted in pride. Pride is also sometimes (not always) found in more subtle forms in people who need to feel significant, who give misguided importance to feelings of self-worth and self-image. It reaches its climax when people start seeing themselves as gods and start acting that way. Pride is putting yourself on the throne and thinking you are better than others, looking down on their values and abilities.
What is pride’s reaction when he is not being acknowledged? Anger, criticism about the lives of others, feelings of unfair treatment that give way to bitterness, jealousy and self-pity causing actions that will hurt people and bring about all kinds of negative behaviour.
How do we rid ourselves of pride?
Through the ages, pride has kept many people out of heaven. Not only that, but the fruit on their labours was also diminished because of pride. Pride is always self-centred and hinders a believer’s childlike faith. It is also the stronghold in us that gives right of admission to all sorts of sin and evil in our lives. Then, how do we rid ourselves of the influence and presence of pride in our lives?
Face the consequences
Pride is a way of resisting God, standing up against God. The power of pride is broken only when we understand how evil it is, what consequences it has in our lives and when we deliberately choose to humble ourselves before God. We often desire to be acknowledged for what we have achieved and for who we are, to be praised and honoured in the presence of others. It is, however, possible to choose against this form of pride. Sometimes pride has gained such a hold over us that we need help to realise how arrogant we have become. The Holy Spirit needs to reveal our pride to us and deliver us from our pride.
Understand God’s love
Pride generally shows that we do not fully comprehend God’s love for us. Also, that we may not always experience the sincere love of other people for us. A revelation of God’s love can set us free from pride – but only if we accept this love and learn to live from a position of loving others as well.
The Lamb sets us free
There is really no limit to what God can do through a person who is free from pride. When the devil cannot keep us from praying and spiritual labour, he will find ways to infiltrate our lives with pride. Once we fall into this dangerous trap, we are less useful in God’s Kingdom.
Pride puts ‘self’ on the throne. In heaven, the Lamb that was slain from before the foundation of the earth, is on the throne. To see Jesus as the Lamb that was slain and the resurrected One in splendour and glory, will set us free from pride. It will show us who we really are and who Jesus really is.
Take up your position in Christ; take up your position as His servant. Jesus Himself served others with great humility. The same is necessary for us. Completely surrender your life to Him.
In Philippians 2:4-6 we read: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
Jesus Christ dealt with our pride by taking the just punishment for it upon Himself at the cross, that we might be renewed in the image of our Creator (Colossians 3:10) and made humble like our Saviour. Being humbled is not painless, but it’s our rescue.
In the end it is Jesus, and Jesus alone, who can rescue us from pride.
Scripture verses about pride to meditate on
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18).
But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. (Daniel 5:20).
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:4).
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:26-28).
He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:30).
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11).
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2:18,23).
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6).
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1 Peter 5:6).
More Scripture references
Deuteronomy 8:2; 2 Samuel 22:28; 2 Chronicles 16:9, 26:16, 32:26; Psalm 9:13, 10:4; Proverbs 8:13, 11:2, 13:10, 15:33, 18:12, 22:4; Isaiah 13:11; Jeremiah 49:16; Daniel 10:12; Matthew 5:3; 11:29, 23:11-12; Luke 1:52; Galatians 6:3,14; Ephesians 4:2; Philippians 2:3; James 3:13.
