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Pride: The Silent Killer

”And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged...Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Luke 7:40-47, KJV

Pride rears its ugly head in our lives from time to time. It is easy to think that we are good or, at least, better than some. It is easy to measure ourselves against people we consider worse off, then we don’t look so bad. Lucifer thought he was so good he could replace God on the throne of the universe. It did not work out too well for him, and pride will also be our downfall.

One of the worst things about pride is that it drains our love for the Lord without us realizing it. Bit by bit, Jesus is pushed from the throne of our hearts, and self begins to take His place. We don’t even notice it is happening. Pride is the silent killer of spiritual relationships. It is the shark that swims below the surface, waiting to strike its unsuspecting victim. Death and destruction is all that it will leave behind.

Warning Sign Of Pride

What is a warning sign of pride? We begin to get into trouble when we think we have good in and of ourselves. The fact is, before God, we do nothing right. Even when we think we're doing right, we do wrong. How God could love and make beauty out of a corrupted, sin-blasted human being is one of the mysteries of God. And yet He takes this dark, shrinking, sulking shadow and turns him or her into a son or daughter of God.

Then what happens? After a while, the temptation to pride begins. “I’m not so bad after all...look how far I have come...I have given a lot to God [or up for God]...I’ve got it made now...God made a wise choice when He chose me...” We may not say it in so many words, but the feelings begin to arise - that in itself is temptation, not sin; the sin is if we indulge it and start to believe the feeling.

In some ways, this temptation of pride hits those who have lived “good” lives and have not been involved in gross sin the hardest. Those who the Lord has delivered from gross sin can see dramatically the horrors from which they were saved. They know they were forgiven much, so they love much. Those of us who have been basically “good people” sometimes have too good of an opinion of ourselves and think we have been forgiven little. We can tend to love little.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way. The Truth is, no matter what our lifestyle was before we were saved, we were all corrupt, rebellious creatures who hated God. All are equally guilty before the Creator. All are equally desperate, needing the grace of God and not deserving one drop of it. This universal truth unites us in our humility and our need for God's grace. We have all been forgiven far much more than we realize. We can all love much.

If you read the lives of great men and women of God, you will discover many of them grew in a healthy awareness of sin. I do not mean that they were preoccupied with sin [that is the opposite temptation!] but that as they grew closer to the Lord, they began to realize more and more the things which displeased Him. They could then take it to the Lord, receive His forgiveness, and grow closer to Him. Because of that, they had a greater appreciation for the grace of God and a greater love for God.

We must avoid the equal but opposite temptations of a] thinking that we are good in ourselves and b] focusing on sin. We do not need to spend a lot of time thinking about sin. As we grow in our relationship with God, we will become more aware of those things that displease Him. When He brings it to our awareness, we need to get forgiveness and move on. If we stumble and fall, we do not lie in the mud in self-pity and condemnation, but we get forgiveness and move on. We can all develop an increasing love for God, for we have all been forgiven much. If we start thinking we’re “OK” in ourselves, watch out!

For more information about Glenn Davis, see our About Glenn page or visit Glenn Davis Books.

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