Pride is one of the most dangerous of the seven deadly sins and is indeed the weapon that satan most dearly loves to use against christians. Pride is the cripling sin that was the cause of him being removed from heaven and cast out to the earth. Pride has now become the cause of the fall of many.
1John 2:16 “For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh – the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.
In the scripture above, pride is classified together with lust and stated to be of the world. Pride therefore is as bad as adultery, fornication and every other deadly sin. Proverbs 16:18 says “Pride goes before destruction“. Once the sin of pride has come upon you, destruction is soon to follow shortly afterwards.
Lucifer was one of the most beautiful angels of all. However Isaiah 14:12-17 relates how lucifer (satan) tried to become as God and was filled with pride. He was then cast out of the heavens due to this sin. However, satan was so devious and convincing, that he managed to convince a third of the angels to follow him and be cast out of the heavens with him. These are the demons or fallen angels that come to tempt you and terrorize you. If satan was able to deceive those who were daily in the prescence of God, daily worshipping before God and who daily saw the power and might of God, how easy is it then for him to tempt and mislead one of us mortals.
Jesus says that we should never consider ourselves more high than we are and when we come to the feast table, that we should seat ourselves at the humble and lowly seats of the table (Luke 14:8-11). He will then come and move us to a higher position, but if we seek the best seat, we will be moved to a lower seat. This was a warning from Jesus about the damaging effects of pride. Pride makes us see ourselves as being more than we actually are and sees us elevating ourselves into positions that we should not be. Matthew 23:12 “And whoever exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Pride is rife in churches and has been the downfall of many otherwise good christians. Pride elevated them into positions that they could not hold and which were not theirs to hold, and so they are toppled. I have even seen those who are so proud of how humble they are!
Guard your hearts, and never allow pride to enter. Cast it out as soon as it comes near to you recognising who the author of pride is, for the minute that you start to entertain pride, you are on the way to destruction. Never think highly of yourself, rather giving the true praise for everything to the Father, for without Him, you are incapable of anything.
