Pride is believing that there is no God, that we got here on our own. Pride is believing that it does not matter whether or not God exists, because we don’t need him. Pride is believing that we do not need to obey the word of God. None of those attitudes will lead to a good end. Pride goes before the fall.
Why is pride so deadly?
Pride keeps us from listening and learning. We don’t seek the advice of others. At best, we seek the counsel of those who will tell us what we want to believe. Maturing is part of the Christian faith. After salvation comes sanctification. We can’t become sanctified, we can’t mature, we can’t grow, if we won’t learn anything. Pride keeps us from listening and learning, because we think we already know everything.
Pride leads us to avoid responsibility and wrecks relationships. When we are prideful, we blame everyone else for our problems. When we are prideful, we won’t seek forgiveness. A prideful person has a string of short term relationships and a resume with a long list of two year jobs. Pride leads us to avoid responsibility and wrecks relationships.
Pride leads to self-idolatry. You place yourself at the center of the universe. Your problems are bigger than other peoples problems and your concerns are more important than other people’s concerns. You have no room for God, for all things revolve around you. Pride leads to self-idolatry.
What is the antidote to pride?
Humility. We have the example of Jesus, who “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”
In our sermon this Sunday we will look at how pride goes before the fall.