Pride: Live Humble & Forgive

 ¹⁶ There are six things the LORD hates,
   seven that are detestable to him:
    ¹⁷ haughty eyes,
      a lying tongue,
      hands that shed innocent blood,
    ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes,
      feet that are quick to rush into evil,
    ¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies
      and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Proverbs 6:16-17

Pride was the original sin.  It is what caused Satan to fall from his position in heaven to the depths of life without God.  The Lord spent most of his life in human form confronting this sin, constantly debating the Pharisees, which where the religious rulers of his day, over this issue.  He spoke out, most notably recorded in Matthew 23 "The Woes of the Pharisees", against their arrogance toward their obedience to the law speaking that they 'strained at a gnat, but swallowed a camel.'  Christ preached humility and lived that virtue out in his life.

We look at the Cross and recall the anguish and suffering of the Messiah, but do we look at the cross and see our sin, especially our arrogance and pride that he died for.  Most of the time, we live life with a sense of entitlement: We are entitled to a wife, house, kids, and a dog.  We deserve to retire after 30 years of toil under the sun to live an enjoyable life free of responsibility.  We earned heaven because of our time spent doing good works.


In effect, we become our own undoing and deceive ourselves singing to ourselves in the mirror.  We forget what happens after death, until we have someone close to us die.  We think we can live independent of anyone until we get into a jam and need someone else to bail us out.  We think that we don't need to share the Truth, talk to strangers, or spend time figuring out someone else's bad life decisions.  In effect, we undermine through our actions the whole reason Christ came to this earth.

Every day brings a new decision.
Instead of pride: humility.
Instead of Criticism: Praise.
Instead of Arrogance: Grace.
Instead of Myopic-ism: Eternal Perspective.
Instead of Greed: Selflessness

Our lives may be full of labor and suffering, but our life was worth the price of God's son.  We cannot begin to be used by God until first we realize just how much he paid and just how dependent we are on him, for his grace. 

 ¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:15-17

 ⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it

1 Timothy 6:6-7