"Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility." - Proverbs 18:12
Believe me, I know how to spell "honor", but the above Scripture is from the King James Version of the Bible and they spelled some words differently back then than we do now. But more than being able to spell honor, do we know how to live a life of honor ......to bring honor and glory to our Lord?
Let me say up front, that some of my blog posts here are triggered by what happens to me personally; I look up Scriptures and information on the subject to help myself in whatever area I am having difficulty in and then I realize it is good information to post here. So what about pride ? It is something that affects us all from time to time. We have to be on guard because our adversary the devil is seeking to devour us; to influence us for the bad. Remember, pride was satan's downfall; he wanted to be equal to God or to put God entirely out of the picture; the devil thought more highly of himself than he should have and exalted himself above the Lord God Almighty. Is it any surprise that satan would try to bring about a person's downfall by inflating that person with pride? As Christians we do not want to imitate the devil but instead to follow and imitate Jesus Christ. Most of you are thinking, "Well, that's a no-brainer!" But pride can sneak up on you without you realizing it for what it is. If you feel proud of your humility, then you are not humble.
"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." - 1 John 2:16
Below is a song about the "poison of pride"; it is a prayer to God for deliverance.
One way to avoid the sin of pride, besides prayer, is to remind yourself that all you are and all you may have is a gift from God; even your very salvation is a gift from our Creator. Who are we to exalt ourselves above anyone or anything ?!! We are but dust and our life is like a mist, which soon disappears. Another way to avoid pride is to spend time in serving others, especially the poor and the infirm and those who cannot help themselves. Jesus is speaking here at Matthew 23:11-12, "But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant; And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. "
"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you're looking down you can't see something that's above you." - C. S. Lewis
"But He giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." - James 4:6-7
"Though the LORD be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off." - Psalm 138:6
So if God seems far away from you and your fellowship with Him is now broken, ask yourself if the reason might be the sin of pride.
Following is a wonderful song titled "Who Am I" :
As we all know, humility is the opposite of pride. Humility has been described as "a prominent Christian grace. It is a state of mind well pleasing to God; it preserves the soul in tranquility and makes us patient under trials."
Remember, even Jesus was humble. "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." - Mark 10:45 . As followers of Christ, we should imitate His humility, in all sincerity and with a pure heart. "And being found in fashion as a man, He (Jesus) humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. "
- Philippians 2:8
One of the hindrances to humility is the fact that most people want to feel in control of everything. That sometimes includes spouses, which can lead to big trouble. The key is to surrender all to God and Jesus because, after all, He is the only one in absolute control of everything. Pray for Him to teach you how to surrender all to Him; to guide you in the choices you make and in everyday affairs. It is really your choice to be distant from God or to be close to Him .
Below is a 4 part sermon on humility by Charles H. Spurgeon. Each part is only about 11 minutes long, so the entire sermon is around 45 minutes. It is well worth the time to listen to it.
"By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life." - Proverbs 22:4
