It has been some time since I have sat down at my computer to write. It is good to be back and thinking about things the Lord would have me to learn. I am reading a book that has been around for awhile but it is new to me. It is called When People are Big and God is Small by Edward T. Welch. To say it has consumed my thoughts would be an understatement. I am obsessed with what I am learning from this book. I highly recommend it. But these things do not get to the subject of this post which is the consequences of pride.
I will begin my thoughts on this subject with the understanding that this blog is written by a fellow sojourner attempting to follow Christ the best I know how. My thoughts are neither comprehensive nor guaranteed to be accurate. I suggest, like with all Biblical teaching, you search the scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to teach and guide you. These are my thoughts and what I am learning along the way.
In my own life, I have suffered from the consequences of pride. The first and hopefully most obvious consequence is that pride leads to estrangement from God. We saw this scripture in an earlier post, Psalm 10:4, "In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God." No room for God. What does that look like? For me it means that I am consumed with my own strength and self sufficiency. Makes me think of the famous Frank Sinatra song, My Way. One of the lines goes like this: "I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way."
It is true, you can plan your own course and you can do it your way. But I can assure you, you will spend your life and possibly eternity separated from God. When I am doing life my way, I exalt myself above God. I usurp his authority and rightful place on the throne. It is never a pretty picture.
The second consequence can be found in both Proverbs 11:2, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." and Proverbs 16:18 that says, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Every time I begin to think I am all that you can bet I am about to learn another lesson. Thankfully the lessons hurt enough to send me to my Father with a prayer of confession. If it doesn't, my head continues to swell and the next consequence will hurt a bit more.
Continuing to ignore the consequence of pride will suck you into a vortex of sin that reaps destruction all over the place. A perfect example of this can be found in 2 Samuel, chapter 11. I challenge you to read this Biblical account of "a man after God's own heart." His story is proof that even the most ardent lover of God can fall victim to the lure of pride.
I have been sucked into this vortex and of this you can be certain: there is no blessing down that road. What I learned about myself is that I frequently have one of two reactions in trying to justify the disaster of my pride. I wonder if either of these ring true in your life. The first is that I will try to minimize my failure. I justify that what I did really wasn't that big a deal to God. The second way I try to recover from the disaster of pride would be to blame it on someone or something else. These reactions are wrong from every angle. We cannot experience true forgiveness until we take complete ownership of our pride and its consequence.
I cling to the promise of Philippians 1:6 "that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." God loves us too much to leave us in our muck and mire. I am ever so grateful to him for not leaving me in my pit. Will you join me today in saying, Yes, Lord! Yes to his way. Yes to his authority. Yes to him! God is God and I am not.
