THE PRIDE PROBLEM
Among the first battles a new Christian encounters is the one against pride. In one form or another, it is among our chief obstacles to a close walk with the Lord. Our success and joy in living the Christian life, as well as our ultimate salvation, will depend on how willingly and faithfully we deal with this weakness in our nature.
The burden of this article is that we are in jeopardy today of intellectually judging the sin of pride while, in practice, tolerating its cancerous fruits in our lives.
Pride is a matter of the heart. It has to do with an improper attitude about oneself. Left unchecked, pride will cause us either to vainly exaggerate our importance or to improperly minimize our worth. Paul tells us: "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" Romans 12:3.
Everyone who has the Spirit of God enthroned in his heart will willingly repent of the works of the flesh, which includes pride. "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" Romans 8:13. Those who have welcomed Christ into their lives are not always perfect, but they long for perfection. They put forth their best efforts to avoid all sin. When they fail, it causes them sincere regret. They are not unwilling to change and make amends.
Unfortunately, we are prone to lapse into a state that is not so committed to the way of truth and humility. Sometimes our love of the truth and fear of God begin to wane. Soon there are telltale signs appearing in our life confirming slippage. It is not a condition that can continue indefinitely. Following are some symptoms of this perilous condition:
The world's ways begin to appeal to us. That which before was unattractive, or even shameful, begins to seem desirable.
We lose personal direction as to what is and what is not detrimental to our overall Christian life. We become willing to risk taking liberties for ourselves and our families. Life seems less serious. The carefree way of worldly Christians entices us to experience a greater "freedom."
We begin to feel restricted and resistant to the humble convictions of the saints. Even though they may attempt to explain the truth to us, it is confusing.
We become offended at and embarrassed by the narrow way. In this condition, we resemble the children of Israel at one point in their journey. "And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way" Numbers 21:4. Often we, like they, blame our discouragement on the "way." The Israelites were in fact resisting God, because He was the one who had chosen the way for them. They had only to follow the divinely guided cloud and pillar of fire. We, likewise, need only to submit to the humble road our Father has chosen for us.
The Gospel message is greatly discredited by the life of a proud brother or sister. God himself says that such are an abomination to him. Proverbs 16:5, 6:16. Jesus said we should learn of Him as one who is meek and lowly in heart. The Old Testament testimony is that "to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word" Isaiah 66:2. When God's people cease to be humble in mind and practice, they are on their way into the world.
One of the Church elders of years past stated that the Church will do fine in the world as long as the world stays out of the Church, just as a ship is perfectly safe in the ocean as long as the ocean stays out of the ship. How true. It must be the burden of every Christian brother and sister to keep the world out of the Church. It will take our wholehearted commitment to do so.
It will not be sufficient to say in a general way that we have trouble with pride. We need to be willing to specifically name and repent of its fruits. Haughtiness, superiority, class consciousness, gaudiness in clothing, hair, and behavior, 1 Timothy 2:9, luxuriousness, bold self-assertiveness, honor seeking, John 5:44, and self-protectiveness are a few of the evidences that pride is beginning to rule in our hearts. These fruits seldom appear in full bloom, rather they emerge in subtle ways. Each of us must be prayerfully honest with our own spirit and life, laying aside the fruits of pride and self-life on a daily basis.
Humility will cause a person to have an unassuming and modest bearing. When one is humble, he recoils from showiness. A free spirit is the mark of a humble person.
Pride and love are completely opposed to each other. Pride makes one think of himself and seek his own gain. Love thinks of others and how he may serve. A lowly person is not self-conscious. Having died to self, he is free to think of others. No wonder pride is so emphatically warned against in the Scriptures. It is totally incompatible with God's plan for the happiness of His people and Church.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Solomon made a timeless observation: "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, 0 how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up" Proverbs 30:12-13. When God's people begin to wink at pride, they are in peril of this judgment. May God grant us the honesty of heart to not be that generation.
As we begin to make allowances for our flesh, we are very prone to turn to self-deception. To keep our conscience from tweaking us, we continue to speak highly of the truth. We embrace it in theory. The apostle John was warning of this when he wrote, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" 1 John 3:18. In our hypocrisy, then, we feel as though we are satisfying God because we intellectually embrace His teachings.
But what of the practical fruits in our life? Unless the tree of our life bears the sincere fruits of humility, no amount of argument will persuade God or the world that we are not proud.
How does one see himself as he really is? The scriptures speak of a condition where the "The eyes of your understanding [are] enlightened" Ephesians 1:18. In another place, it says that "their foolish heart was darkened"
Romans 1:21, speaking of those who were unthankful and didn't know God. We need an anointing of our spiritual eyes to be able to comprehend our true condition.
The answer to this condition is the same that was given to the church of Laodicea, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see" Revelation 3:18. To buy is to give one's self in willing submission and agreement to the God of Heaven. It is to commit ourselves to put Him first. Pride and its outward manifestations come into clear view only when our spiritual sight has been corrected by an application of God's eyesalve.
Brother Keith
7 March 2010.
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