Resisting Pride

RESIST PRIDE

MAIN TEXT: ROMANS 12:3

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

PROVERBS 29:23

A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

Pride is a sin of the spirit, not always seen, but hidden in the hearts. Hence we tend to ignore it until it leads to some emotional behavior that reveals their presence. This is why we should resist the sin of pride/arrogance at all times because God resist the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4;6). It is the stone over which many people (Christians in particular) stumble.

It is a constant enemy of the Christians. We have to keep alert to the sin of pride so that we can immediately resist/reject it. Through prayers, reliance on the Holy Spirit and regular study of the word, we will gain heaven’s perspective of ourselves. A catalogue of various places in the Bible will help us realize the devastating effect of this sin of the spirit – pride.

In Daniel 5, Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, two Babylonian Kings were told they had misplaced hearts of arrogance and pride (vs. 20, 22). As a result, God judged them.

In James 3:14-16 we are told that greater havoc in our society and in human relationship is caused by envy and self-seeking which wraps up within them everything which stems from pride. Think about what caused Lucifer to fall from heaven (Isaiah 14:12) and Adam and Eve to lose their glory in Eden (Gen. 3:6).

To resist pride draw from “the wisdom that is from above” (James 3:17) if we ask the Holy Spirit to help us see ourselves as we are, He will enable us to resist pride. For our voyage through time into eternity is too treacherous to attempt without God’s help and unless the Lord Jesus is our captain, we will never make it safely to the heavenly shore.

REFUSE THE DESTRUCTION OF PRIDE

SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES: Proverbs. 16:18, James 4:6.