Sinful Pride

“Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (James 4:10).

Satan has always had a strong cache of artillery he uses to keep those who are striving to be faithful from reaching their goal. This is exactly what the Greek word for “sin” means, to miss the mark (or goal). He has always known our weakness as human beings and his strategy calls for an attack on ou...r weakest points. Pride is one of our greatest weaknesses and one of his strongest temptations to attack our souls. His sin of pride began his own demise. His pride caused judgment to fall on him and his aggravation from God’s judgment motivated his assault on mankind. He went right to work on God’s creation by tempting them with pride: “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Satan used Eve’s weakness of pride to cause doubt in God’s word and he will use it against us also.

Satan’s attack on our souls is always in opposition to God’s word. His desire is to plant doubt in us because doubt is the opposite of faith. Faith is what God uses to credit righteousness in the accounts of His followers: “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). Paul’s inspired point here is that faith depends on God’s power to save and never relies on our own abilities to earn salvation. When we try to earn salvation we find ourselves removed from the pattern of faith that pleases God. If we could earn salvation then the glory of success would go to us and cause us to doubt God. This is the tragic result of pride, a self-glorifying attempt to be right with our Creator. This philosophy always leads us away from God as pride is in opposition to God’s will. Solomon wrote, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Proverbs 16:18).

We allow pride to take us away from faith in many ways. We become prideful people when we think we know how to be saved without going to God for His instructions. Whenever we put man’s “I think so” before God’s “I say so” we become prideful people headed for a fall. Make sure you stay on your feet walking in the way of righteousness by being humble before God and receiving His counsel. God isn’t looking for people who are not humble. He looks for those humble enough to lay aside the deception of their own wisdom so they can be made wise through the understanding of His grace. Whatever we think we know about God can only be confirmed through faith in His word. To walk with the Lord, you must humble yourself to be led in the way of His righteousness (John 14:6).

In His Grace,
Cub