PRIDE

It oozes in us... C.S. Lewis calls it "the Great Sin". How do we gain perspective on this issue? Lord, please make us humble through love.

A quick search for "pride" on biblegateway reveals the gravity of this sin:

2 Chronicles 26:16
But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.

Psalm 10:4
In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, writes: "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you."

So how do we fix this? Pride... It goes so deep. I see it in myself. I see it in the way I interact others. How can I get over myself?

I decided to do an image search of "humility" and glanced at the mosaic of pictures in front of me. A number of them struck me, including a Muslim woman wearing her hijab and some decorative quotes. Then I saw this picture:



The Bible is filled with remedial verses on the issue of pride, but nothing stands out more, nor is more humbling, than Paul's letter to the Philippians, Chapter 2:

Verses 3-4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

If you, like me, get owned by these two short verses. Take encouragement in this:

Verses 5-9
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!



Yes, I am prideful. Yet, The Master washes my feet. How am I to respond to this? Lord, help me to love others. Thank You for loving this sinner. Lord, grant me true humility... I can only do it because You've done it first.


"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19

Pictures taken (without permission) from: http://humblepiety.blogspot.com and http://1.bp.blogspot.com

Discipline

Hebrews 12

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.