Pride? Me? Nah: The Danger of a Prideful Heart

I've seen it many times with a front row seat at the base of a big oak tree, a gobbler (a male, wild turkey) making his way to a hen.  He starts out cautiously at first, feathers down, not looking all that different from his potential mate, but once his eyes make contact with her it happens.  He gets puffed up, tail feathers spread out in a beautiful fan, and he begins to strut.  Back and forth he struts in a display meant to impress.  What's he saying?  "Look at me!  Aren't I something awesome?  See how big and handsome I am?  I'm bigger than the gobbler over there  so focus your attention on ME."  But you know the reality of it?  It's just air, the same skinny turkey with a whole lot of fluff.  In this situation it's natural and it's part of reproduction but it's a great analogy for the sin of all sins - human pride.

I took a little time today to do a word search in the Bible for pride, proud, haughty, and arrogant.  It was astounding!  It was incredibly humbling.  It was a word for me and it is a word for you.  I could just list off the scripture verses that describe God's view of and his reaction to pride but it would take a small book to do that.  When you're finished with this post you might want to go to Biblegateway Keyword Search and type in "pride". You'll be humbled too.  But for now I want to give you a little taste of what you'll find.

When most of us think of sin (if we think of sin at all) we think of murder, lust, adultery, lying, or stealing.  But I believe that one sin is at the root of all of them and one sin God hates above all else - PRIDE.  Why is that? Because pride is our way of attempting to make ourselves like a god.  We attempt to put ourselves on a throne,  But guess what?  It's just a bunch of hot air.  We like the gobbler are not really that big or impressive.  Actually, we're really quite broken and weak.  But before you say "Me?  I'm actually quite humble." be careful because pride can often be a subtle but equally dangerous sin.

Let me give you a couple verses that demonstrate, with no ambiguity, how God feels about pride:

Psalm 101:5

"Whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate."

Proverbs 16:5

"The Lord detests all the proud of heart.  Be sure of this, they will not go unpunished."

So what's the big deal?  Pride?  Really?  It can't be as bad as the other sins. But it is.  It leads to a false sense that we don't really need God.  Even if we are believers we can begin to feel like we are something special either because we're part of the "saved" group or because we're doing great things for God.  What happens when we start to get puffed up like God predicted Israel would do?

Deuteronomy 8:13-15

"When your herds and your flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

Pride gone unchecked will lead to separation from God and ultimately a crash and burn.  Hear this verse about King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:16:

"But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride lead to his downfall.  He was unfaithful to the Lord his God . . . "

Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

Sure pride can be overt.  We've all seen or know someone who talks big, walks big, and thinks they are "God's gift to mankind".  Hollywood is full of them but I know God is just as concerned with his children, believers in His Son, believers who harbor little tentacles of pride that can undermine the working of the Holy Spirit through them.  God was concerned that the Apostle Paul would become prideful because of the position he had been given and because of the great revelations God had shown him.  Apparently Paul was unable to self contain his pride so God gave him a "thorn in the flesh"

2 Corinthians 12:7

"Therefore, in order to keep me from being conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me."

WOW!  God let Satan "torment" Paul to prevent him from becoming prideful.  He must really hate pride!

Before we close let's do a little self-examination for pride in our lives.  See if any of these thoughts or actions creep up in your life:

1)  When someone talks about their kid, maybe a sporting accomplishment or school grade, does you mind immediately turn to your kid and how they compare.  Do you feel 100% excited for them or do you lose a little of it in competitiveness?  That's pride.

2)  When you serve in church or in some ministry and someone talks about their service to God do your thoughts and maybe even your words turn to your accomplishments and your godliness?  Be truthful. We are competitive, even when it comes to serving God.  It's pride.

3)  When you go to the gym, run a few miles, decide which shirt will make you look the best or when you take that one extra look in the mirror in the morning, what is you motive?  Is it just to keep your God given body healthy or is it to impress man (or woman)

Be brutally honest with yourself.  It's OK. You're not alone.  We ALL harbor pride in our hearts.  The key is to be honest, identify it, acknowledge it before God and pray for humility. Remember that Jesus, the only son of the Most High God, through whom all things were made, came from heaven and was born in a dirty manger.  On his knees he washed the feet of his disciples. On the cross he was nailed and died.  He who had no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.  That is humble. That is beautiful.

I'll leave you with this:

Psalm 149:4

"For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory."

If you want to wear a crown given by God himself seek humility.  As in all my blogs, this message was first to me and to my prideful heart. I pray it touches yours.

Peace,

David

Keep Your Eyes on the Ball - Keep Your Eyes on Jesus

My eight-year-old son was getting ready to step into the batter's box during the first inning of his Little League baseball game this past Saturday when his coach yelled out, 

"Hey Trev, what's the most important thing in baseball?"

Trevor yelled back, "Keep your eye on the ball!"

When I was learning to drive about thirty years ago my mother must have worn out her vocal cords saying, "David! Keep your eyes on the road." Then there was my fourth grade teacher who had a really sweet trick for keeping our attention and for assuring our behavior.  She had three small bean-bags on her desk and when I was fooling around I could count on one of those bean-bags sailing across the room, safely over the six rows of well behaved kids, landing upside my head followed by the words, "David, I've got my eye on you!"  I don't think that educational tool would fly today but it sure worked wonders in 1974.  It seems like most things of value require keeping your eyes on them.  You must look at them and pay attention to them.  

Fastballs, fourth graders, and the road you're traveling are all good things to keep your eye on if you're a baseball player, a teacher, or a driver respectively but here is the most important thing to keep your eyes on:

Jesus

Why?

Jesus said, "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day."

In Deuteronomy chapter 4 we read, "But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and soul."

Now, I personally did a lot of looking around before I came to know God in a saving way but most of it wasn't searching for God specifically. I looked for happiness, satisfaction, accolades, success, and I guess in some ways something spiritual to make it all look good but surely not God with all my heart and soul.  So I guess that in God's sovereignty he supplies even our ability to look.  He calls us and gives us eyes to see but we can still choose to look away and not believe.  If we look to the Son and believe God promises that he will never let us go.  Earlier in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John Jesus says, "Whoever comes to me I will never drive away." and  "This is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day."

God calls us and gives us the ability to see but it's our job to "look to the Son" and "Look for him will all our heart and soul."  In the account of Saul of Tarsus' experiencing Jesus on the road to Damascus you might recall that Saul was a murderous man bent on seeing Christians killed or imprisoned when, in a blinding light, he met the risen Christ. But, Saul never saw Jesus on the road that day because he was blinded.  It wasn't until three days later when God removed "something like scales" from Saul's eyes that he could see again.  But here is where he could have picked up his belongings and gone back to his life of persecuting Christians but instead he spent the remainder of his life (until he was martyred) looking to the Son.  I think that the scales not only fell from his eyes but from his heart.  You see, even if your physical eyes can't see, you can still have a heart to see.  There is a song we sing at church called, "Open the Eyes of my Heart" and I think this applies.

Saul was given a new name that day, "Paul” who became the greatest preacher of the Gospel who ever lived.  He is the writer of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and possibly the book of Hebrews.  Paul was a new creation in Christ Jesus!

The writer of the book of Hebrews (Possibly Paul) wrote these words, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  You see, the penalty for sin has already been paid for on the cross at Calvary where Jesus endured the pain and scorn for us.  We need only look to the Son in faith to receive the gift provided.  We will receive new spiritual eyes with which we will be able to see ourselves and others and we will be able to recognize our sin and our need for a savior.  We will be given a heart with which to repent of our failures and a heart that can worship its creator.  It's like a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly.  No one really knows how is happens but it is truly a miracle of God.

If you’re here today it's no accident and I believe that God is calling you, giving you spiritual eyes to see, and giving you a heart that is able to seek.  It's up to you whether or not you will choose to look to the Son and have eternal life.  If you choose to look to him he will make you a new creation as well.  He will not only be the author of your faith but as you continue to fix your eyes on him, he will perfect your faith until he brings you home.  Maybe you already have your eyes fixed on Jesus,  if so then, AMEN.  Pass it forward!  

"Hey, what's the most important thing in life?"

"Keep your eyes on Jesus!"

Peace,

David