THE SIN OF PRIDE: THE PREOCCUPATION WITH SELF
By: Dr. Mike Jones
The sin of PRIDE is a preoccupation with SELF. Year-after-year, we’re reminded that the middle letter in P…R…I…D…E (PRIDE) is “I”. Pride is all about “Me, MYSELF, and I.”
The Bible states in Proverbs 6 that the sin of PRIDE is the sin of ALL sins. It was this sin that sent Lucifer from being an archangel, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, to Satan, the father of lies.
We’re warned to guard our hearts against pride lest we too fall into the same condemnation as Satan.
Today, I want to teach on 7 areas that tempt us to be proud; and as the blessings of the Lord flow into your life throughout the year, you’ll know what to guard against.
(1) First area is being boastful in your abilities:
We’re often tempted to be proud of our strengths. In other words, we’re only tempted to be proud in areas whereby we’re good at. I’m not tempted to be proud in being President of a major corporation, nor a master carpenter, because those aren’t my areas of expertise. But, when it comes to teaching God’s word and the saints recognize you as one that’s capable of teaching the Bible verse-by-verse, you can be prideful. But, God has a way of putting you in check, All it takes is you being at a Bible conference and you misinterpret a few passages and word gets back to you from several scholars on how off you were in your interpretation of the passages of scripture – that will humble you.
A biblical example you be the Apostle Paul. By most accounts, he would be considered a brilliant man. He studied at the feel of Gamaliel, who was considered the Master Teacher of his time on religious matters. But yet, Paul said in Corinthians 2:3-5, “I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
In another place, he said, “I take pleasure in infirmities for when I am weak, then am I strong.” He was able to say this (now) because he knew that God had told him, “My grace is sufficient for you!” (So we need to lose pride and lean totally on God’s grace to each of us as believers.) Why? Because any talent of gift you have comes from God and He should be honored when you’re honored by people.
(2) Another area is being prideful in your economic status:
When we saw the devastation of the Tsunami in Asia, or the pounding of Jamaica by Hurricane Ivan, for a while, we went WOW!!! Our pride went right out the window because these people had very little and wouldn’t understand one concept of being prideful of what they own. But in America, economic pride is a serious problem. Athletes are paid more than some small countries annual budgets, movie stars are arrested for slapping police officers, major corporate leaders refusing to be held accountable for their corporations going under, after they’ve taken billions of dollars out of the corporation in stock options. It’s the incompetent people I have working under me fault.
In Deuteronomy 8:11-14, Moses told the people of God that they would receive wonderful blessings at the hand of God in the Promise Land. He also warned the people of God that there would be a tendency to forget the source of their blessings – that they acquired all they possessed based on their abilities. (Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;)
Luke 12:16-20 shows a man so proud of what he accomplished and didn’t know he was going to die that night (and he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry… (TO BE CONTINUED)
(Adapted from The Sin of Pride: the Preoccupation with Self; all Scripture references are taken from the KJV unless otherwise noted.)