I once read that, “Pride is the poison of hell.” I know that’s a pretty alarming statement, considering how ‘pride’ is such a celebrated characteristic in today’s culture. However, pride establishes an identity in a source other than God. Have you ever experienced a toddler putting something in their mouth they weren’t supposed to, and then vigorously yelling, ‘GET THAT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH…!’ ‘SPIT IT OUT…!’ Undoubtedly, you would very quickly react due to the danger of the hazardous thing they were attempting to ingest. Although pride may look delicious and appetizing; it’s venomous like a baby copperhead snake.
I believe that Peter could relate to the nasty venomous aftermath of a pride-filled heart and that’s why he wrote in I Peter 5:5, “…’God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” The term resist, is a very striking term. To be proud and prideful are synonymous. This scripture clearly states, “God resists the proud.” This sounds very familiar to the command God gives us towards the devil; “…Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7 NKJV). Pride converted Lucifer from the worship leader of Heaven, into Satan the ring leader of Hell. Pride corrupts the authenticity of any character with evil toxicity. Pride is the nature of the devil. God is not against us, but He is against pride. The most dangerous thing about pride is that it is the hardest thing to see in yourself. It’s extremely easy to identify pride in others, but extremely hard to identify pride in yourself, because pride blinds you of your sins, iniquities, and transgressions. Pride is self-righteousness, self-justification, and self-sufficiency. All of those characteristics render the power Gospel ineffective in an individual’s life.
Inarguably, there is a distinct difference between pride and humility. The major difference between these two terms is that pride blinds you from your identity and humility reveals your identity. Humility is the bridge of surrender to your heart, which allows God’s grace to enter in. Grace is God’s ability and humility is the conduit of God’s grace. Pride is a conscious decision to trust in your own ability. Pride is confidence in yourself as your source, whereas humility is confidence that God is your source. Pride is like cancer, it spreads to every place in your life, until you deal with it. The only way to extract pride from your life is to cultivate humility. Jesus was the ultimate example of humility, Jesus proclaimed He could do nothing of Himself, He was completely dependent upon the Father. (John 5:30 NLT). Humility is the pure canvas, where God can paint the masterpiece of your divine destiny. Humility is willingness to be corrected, servanthood, and confidence in God.
At the end of the day, the bible tells us in the book of Proverbs 11:2, ” When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.” Look at it this way, sometimes we have to eat our words, starve our ego, swallow our pride, and accept our mistakes. It’s not called giving up rather, it’s called growing up! A humble heart is God’s favorite platform to empower, encourage and inspire!
4GIVEN 