Pride

PRIDE

Pride is the sin of sins. It transformed Lucifer an anointed Cherubim of God. He was so very beautiful and was the seal of perfection in the entire Cherubim angelic realm; he was full of wisdom and no match to his beauty. Lucifer took a grand place in the heavenly realm, but took he became satan the devil, the father of lies, and for whom hell was even created. Pride was his downfall.

Guard your heart against pride. Devil’s downfall was because of it. Pride means thinking high of our self. It was this sin that led Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.

Ref.: Gen. 3:4-6 - ⁴“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom; she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Satan is eager to share his condemnation with each of us like he did it with Adam and Eve. He was condemned by God because of His prideful sin. So he was eager to share that condemnation with others.

Pride is the commencement of all other sins. He sought the door of pride whereby to enter, when he said ‘You shall be like God.’ P R I D E the 5 letter has in the middle that stands tall and strong the letter ‘I’. Sin of pride is pre-occupation with self – me, myself and I. So, the centre focus of pride is the letter I. So, when we put our ‘I’ above everything else then we are going down the drain into a downfall descent into the condemnation that he received and he wants to share with us.

Ref.: Is.14:12-15 - ¹²How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! ¹³You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. ¹⁴I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” ¹⁵But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

So, the entire verses 12-15 talks about ‘I’ all through, Lucifer wanted that big ‘I’ in his life and that was the reason for his downfall. We need to check, dear Brothers and Sisters, if our ‘I’ is supreme in our life now, then the sin of pride is wide in our eyes. Satan’s enmity started against God with the letter I and so it is with us too. If we are pre-occupied with our self we are suffering from the sin of pride.

How to determine if we have pride?

We need to evaluate our motives. Whatever we are doing, are we doing for our personal gain or selfish ambitions or are we doing it for others? For example, we are giving something to a person, are we giving it because that persons starvation attracted us, that we are giving in that money or because people around us are watching us and we want them to say that we are a very good giver? We need to check our motives here. Are we doing it because our trying to gain something for our name or is it that our heart is going out for the other person. So, we need to evaluate our motives. For example, if we are studying hard, it’s our obedience to God and that’s good. If I study hard to become a teacher, I am going to edify others, people are going to learn from me and that’s good too because it reveals my love for others and that I am going to share it with them. But if I am going to study to solely increase the knowledge for myself and say and feel that I am more than others, were the focus is more on myself and my own glory, then that’s pride. We are not only suffering from pride, we are actually getting totally consumed by it.

Ref.: 1 Cor.8:1 - We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.

When we start boasting about our knowledge, then puffs up pride and we are totally taken aback and we are content being prideful. Personal glory will lead to a proud heart and enmity with God. So, only by evaluating our motives we will know if we have pride and if we are getting personal glory, we are going into a proud heart and we are an enemy with God and sin of pride comes in.

How pride takes a possession in our thoughts and our life? How it can takes superiority in our lives? How it can manifest in our life or comes into our life? How it will rule over our life? What are the effects that will happen when we start becoming a prideful person and also how to fight against it?

Let’s take the example of two people, King Nebuchadnezzar who have committed the sin in the Bible, how it manifested itself in their lives and how it can infect our own hearts and mind and how to combat the sin of pride with purity.

Ref.: Dan.4:33 - ³³Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. ³⁴At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. ³⁵All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases

with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” ³⁶At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.

So, the sin that King Nebuchadnezzar suffered and lost his kingdom was because he thought that he won over everything by his own strength. When he realised it, that’s exactly when we see, verse 35-37, he glorified the King of heaven, before that he glorified himself. Pride is a sin when we do not glorify God. When King Nebuchadnezzar realised that God was the one to be glorified, he got restored. The lesson we learn from this is that when we walk in pride God will be able to put us down, but when we look to God, we start becoming humble and give all glory to God.

Now, King Nebuchadnezzar had a grandson, King Belshazzar, who refused to learn from his grandfather’s lesson. King Nebuchadnezzar lesson, is a lesson for all of us today. His grandson knew of his grandfather, how he was treated by God and how the change happened later. All that King Nebuchadnezzar had, it came down crashing to the ground. We read that he ate grass and that his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, would mean that he was on the streets. That’s apt with the saying pride goes before a fall. Many people who are prideful, only after they hit rock bottom understand what humility is. Even today, in Holy Land, at the entrance to the birthplace of Jesus, in that big Church, one has to bend low. Same way the place where Jesus was born, one has to bend. It tells us that we need to humble before The King. Even to enter into the place, where the crucifixion took place, one has to bend and go up to it. Anybody for that matter has to stoop down, because in the eyes of God we are all equal. But King Belshazzar, did not learn the lesson from his grandfather’s pride.

Ref.: Dan.5:18-23 ¹⁸“Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendour. ¹⁹Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. ²⁰But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. ²¹He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes. ²²“But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. ²³Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways

Ref.: Dan.5:30 - That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain.

Brothers and sisters, if we don’t wake up to His call, then He will exercise his fall. That’s exactly what we learn from King Belshazzar. If we glorify ourselves above our Creator, then we are doomed. On the contrary, if we acknowledge God as our Heavenly king, it is reversed. All that we possess, we should first know that it is God’s first, and then it is ours. Be it family, children, money and all that we have, are all His first and then it is given to us. If we believe that we have acquired it, then we are wrong. Nebuchadnezzar did not acknowledge God, for what He had given him. Even the throne he had, he thought that he had made it. Nebuchadnezzar gave himself the credit for all his success. And he robbed God of the glory that was due to God. But later changed, whereas Belshazzar deliberately remained arrogant and provoked God all through his life. What did he do? He knew the vessels of the temple had been meant only for God. Belshazzar defiled them by drinking in it, knowing how God dealt with his grandfather. From these two examples, we can see how pride changes our perceptions of reality. Pride must overpower truth, because truth is often very humbling, contrary to pride. Nebuchadnezzar’s pride deceived him into thinking something that wasn’t true. He believed that he built his entire empire by his own wisdom, and that was his problem. He thought that everything he did was with his power. That was his downfall. But when you acknowledge that everything comes from God and is for the Glory of God, automatically, humility comes to us.

Ref.: Acts17:26 - From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.

So, we can understand that everything that is existing is a gift of God.

Ref.: Is.10:13 - For he says: “‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their kings.

There was a king called Sennacherib, the king of Asyria to whom God gave success, because God chose him and wanted to exercise His righteousness on certain godliness nations and thereby use him in the mission. But this king too had the same problem like King Belshazzar we find history repeating itself with this king as well. Sennacherib did not give glory to God and insulted God. That cost him his life.

Ref.: Is.10:5-7 - ⁵“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! ⁶I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. ⁷But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations.

Ref.: Is.10:12 - When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the wilful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.

Actually, God gave him all power so that Sennacherib can teach other people of godliness nations God’s love, but he took it personally and God showed His power. He was slain in the temple of his own false god. Almost same like Belshazzar. His pride gave him a sense of security. He mocked at God. He was a fool to exalt himself against his Creator.

Thus, we learn that pride can blind us to the reality of the situation. It can lead us into further sins against God. Remember that everything we own is from God and be grateful to Him. Can we rob God? Yes, we can, by being a cheerful giver. A cheerful giver can easily rob the heart of God!

Ref.: Mal.3:8-9 - ⁸“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. ⁹You are under a curse - your whole nation - because you are robbing me.

Ref.: Gal.6:7 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

If we sow goodness, we get goodness. If we sow discord, hatred, we get only that.

Thus we should understand that pride is our dangerous enemy. It makes us stand against The Creator, the one who formed you in our mother’s womb; He formed us because he wanted us in the first place.

Ref.: James4:4 -You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world

means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

Ref.: Prov.3:34 - He mocks proud mockers but shows favour to the humble and oppressed.

Ref.: 1Jn.2:16 - For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world.

So, this pride is a dangerous enemy that would make us stand against our God, our Creator, who created us. The world when created was absolutely perfect, but like satan it departed from the Creator God and it has created its own unpleasant ways. It’s for us to make a decision to turn our ways to the Lord.