Pride and Humility

“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Pride is a tricky thing. It is difficult to recognize within yourself, yet we are quick to see it in other people. When we are behaving under the influence of pride we tend to look at others as if they are just not as talented or intelligent as we are. Pride seeks to draw a focus to ourselves in the hope that people will praise us. Pride can also be the refusal to recognize where we are wrong. 

As embarrassing as it is for me to admit, I have struggled with the issue of pride a lot throughout my life. I realize that the embarrassment I feel is also rooted in pride, in that I do not want to spoil how others perceive me. It became a means for me to internally pass judgement upon other people. Many times as I led worship I would be so focused on how my voice sounded that I was unable to minister to God. I was also overlooking my duty to host a meeting place between God & His people. Thankfully God still showed up because He loves His people & He wants to be with them. 


About a month ago God spoke to me & revealed to me my pride. Not only did He reveal my pride to me, but He affirmed His grace over me. Since that moment, the Lord has been revealing a lot to me--things He was unable to reveal to me while I was steeped in pride. Sin is rooted in pride, or to paint a picture "Pride is the soil that sin grows in" (Sion Alford, Gateway Church). I am going to go out on a limb & say that we are never more like Satan than when our hearts are filled with pride. That may sound harsh, but take a look at why Satan was cast out of heaven: 

Thus says the Lord GOD: "You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you." Ezekiel 28:12-17

Satan became proud of his beauty & the gifts God had given to him. Isaiah 14 speaks of how he tried to elevate himself above God. He abandoned his role as a worshiper of the Most High God & attempted to become a consumer of worship & without any fight God cast him down. Not because God was threatened or jealous, but because God is the only One who is deserving of worship. 

Pride is an attempt to elevate ourselves. When I sin I have the option to either react in pride & refuse to recognize my sin or I can repent & turn my life around. When I refused to recognize my sin as sin I was still covered under the Grace of God, ("but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." Romans 5:20b), but due to my lack of repentance He was unable to use me in the ways He has purposed for my life.

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." 1 John 1:8-10

We live in a world that increasingly refuses to recognize sin as sin. The world has even twisted & misinterpreted Scripture in order to support their case. I myself have sought to justify my sin instead of repenting & turning away from it enabling me to embrace the freedom that can only be found in His Grace! I choose to submit myself to & seek after the culture of heaven instead of trying to subject heaven's culture to the world around me. The Bible is true for yesterday, today, & tomorrow. It needs no correction, it is not subject to changes in science--God wrote science & all of creation points to His divine detail.

We no longer have a set of rules to follow because the Lord has written it upon our hearts! (Jeremiah 31:33) We obey Him not out of obligation, but because we love Him so much! I do not need a list of rules in order to be faithful to my husband, I am faithful to him because I love & cherish him--I want to keep a large distance from anything that would cause his heart to be grieved or broken. I desire the same relationship between myself & my Lord! I want everything I do in life to display my love for God.
A picture of our Lord that is continually painted throughout the entire Bible is that He loves us so much that His deepest desire is to dwell among us & to be our God. From the Garden of Eden through to Revelation He wants to dwell among us. "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:3-4 (See also Exodus 29:45; Leviticus 26:12; Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 27:9; 1 Samuel 12:22; 2 Samuel 7:24; 1 Chronicles 17:22; Isaiah 43:21; Jeremiah 24:7; 30:22; 31:1, 33; 32:38; Ezekiel 11:20; 14:11; 36:22-28; 37: 23, 27; Zechariah 8:8; 2 Corinthians 6:16-18; 1 Peter 2:10) He wants to dwell with His people! Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross was to cover our sin & make us pure in God's sight so that we can dwell with Him as He intended for us!
I desire to humble myself under His mighty hand & exalt Him as the Lord of all who is worthy of my praise, thanksgiving, adoration, & worship. I desire to dwell with my God who spared no cost when He freed me from death. I forever want to draw nearer to my Lord, the God who wants to dwell with me. 




Lord, I desire to be close to You. Please keep my heart free from the soil of pride that can so easily take a hold. I submit my life to You & I pray that You would use me to spread the message of Your Grace to a world that is hurting & so desperately needs You. Thank You for softening my heart & creating in me an awareness of my sin. Help me to always use my gifts & abilities to bring Glory to Your great Name! I want to be used by You, Father! I love You!