First thing this morning I was reading Proverbs 16. (One of our pastors had recommended reading the Bible before doing anything online which I used to do, but hadn’t been doing lately.) There were multiple verses on pride.
Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
Assuredly, he will not be unpunished. (Proverbs 16:5)
Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before stumbling. (Proverbs 16:18)
It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly
Than to divide the spoil with the proud. (Proverbs 16:19)
Since it is “Pride Month”, I started thinking about pride and especially Lucifer’s fall to become Satan or the Devil. What caused the most beautiful angel in heaven to become the monster we know as the Devil? It was PRIDE.
“You had the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.13You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
The beryl, the onyx and the jasper;
The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;
And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,
Was in you.
On the day that you were created
They were prepared.14You were the anointed cherub who covers,
And I placed you there.
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.15You were blameless in your ways
From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.16By the abundance of your trade
You were internally filled with violence,
And you sinned;
Therefore I have cast you as profane
From the mountain of God.
And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.17Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
I put you before kings,
That they may see you.18By the multitude of your iniquities,
In the unrighteousness of your trade
You profaned your sanctuaries.
Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you;
It has consumed you,
And I have turned you to ashes on the earth
In the eyes of all who see you.19All who know you among the peoples
Are appalled at you;
You have become terrified
And you will cease to be forever.” ’ ” (Ezekiel 28:12b-19)
Lucifer became prideful of his God given splendor and it transformed him from the most beautiful angel in heaven to a monstrous evil, the face in our nightmares. Instead of being grateful that God had made him and made him with great beauty, strength, and wisdom, he tried to steal God’s position and claim God’s glory. Pride can turn anything and anyone into something unimaginably ugly.
How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:12-14)
In the same way that pride transformed Lucifer, an angel of light, to Satan, the very face of evil, we, who are made in the image of God, can be transformed from God’s perfect creation that reflects the glory of God, to a thing that is evil and ugly and of no use to anyone except as an example of what not to do and what not to be.
What does it say about our society when pride is held up as something to strive for? Why does one group brag about its pride? You could argue that pride is the root of evil and sin.
We need to have a right understanding of ourselves and our relationship with God. If we haven’t submitted our lives to Jesus, we shouldn’t have pride in anything we think, say, do, or are. If we have submitted our lives to Jesus, and we are now a child of God, we need to not put down what God has honored with His covering, but the only pride we should have is in God and His glory and what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (2 Corinthians 3:5)
indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; (2 Corinthians 1:9)
Instead of being proud of who we are or what we have done, we need to praise and worship God for who He is and what He has done and who He has made us. He never makes a mistake.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
2Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.3Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.4Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.5For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations. (Psalms 100)
Trust Jesus.
your sister in Christ,
Christy
FYI, my following posts will continue going through each of the individual fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5
Bible verses are NASB (New American Standard Bible) 1995 edition unless otherwise stated
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