King Saul Disobeys The Prophet Samuel
Samuel, the prophet, said to King Saul: I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do. Samuel would meet with Saul in seven days and present an offering to God.
Essentially, King Saul should have waited for Samuel, but he didnt. Instead, he offered a sacrifice to God by himself. This was a sin because only priests and levites were able to offer sacrifices under the law. In addition, he disobeyed the instructions of the prophet Samuel.
King Saul is a perfect example of trying to fix a situation in our own strength. When believers cannot patiently wait for God, they run the risk of doing things outside of Gods will. Therefore, Its important to remove self-reliance and fear from your life and humbly wait on God.
What About The Haughty And Proud Men
The only way to overcome pride and arrogance is through humility the Lord rebukes proud people and gives grace to the humble for God himself does not resist before a humiliated heart.
But what about the haughty and proud men? His heart is full of hardness because of sin they look with haughty hearts they judge and criticize good actions demonstrating a refusal to submit to God.
Haughty eyes and arrogant heart, lamp of the wicked {that is a sin.
Proverbs 21:4
A proud person will never recognize the dependency he has as a creature on the Lord he acts contradictory to the precepts of Gods existence, and his word and does not accept his power and authority.
Faced with this situation, God cannot act for where there is a hardened heart, He cannot dwell, much less force the person to seek Him.
Adam And Eve Eat The Forbidden Fruit
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
When God made the universe, He gave the first humans, Adam and Eve, one rule. That was not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Due to their pride, they thought they knew more than God and ate the fruit anyway.
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Types Of Pride In The Bible
In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever .
There are two basic types of pride in the Bible, legitimate and sinful.
The first swells from an appreciation of Gods character and faithful action in our lives. Many of the Psalms praise God for His protection, provision, answer to prayer , and unfailing love. When all else falters and fades away, He remains. Galatians 6:14 says, May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul credited his integrity to Christ, boasting in a clear, Christ-led conscience. We can boast about what God, through Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, is doing through us with what He put in and activated in His time according to His will. Philippians 2:16 says, as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. Legitimate, godly pride has nothing to do with ourselves.
1 Corinthians 4:7 states, For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? Our sinful pride tempts us to be self-sufficient rather than God reliant.
What Makes Pride A Sin
Everything we have, we have received from God. It is not wrong to feel good about something you have accomplished as long as you recognize, and admit, that you could not have done so without Him.
- Heather RigglemanCrosswalk.com Contributing Writer
- 20209 Oct
Proverbs 16:18 says, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. There are many other biblical warnings about the sin of pride.
But why is pride so strongly warned against? Why is pride a sin? Is it always a sin to feel proud of something you have accomplished?
It is very important to understand what precisely is the pride that God hates .
Several years ago, when my first book was published, I had the opportunity to meet Beth Moore and have her sign it. I stood in line just beaming as I held my precious book.
It smelled of freshly printed pages and the cover was a beautiful glossy green. I was so immensely proud of fulfilling my calling. I was even more proud that I could call myself an author.
When it was my turn to meet Beth, I showed her my book and we chatted for a bit. Then, she turned to her assistant and asked her to hold the line because apparently, I was in serious need of an eye-opening, come-to-Jesus-moment.
Because if I wasnt careful, it would be my downfall. She even shared personal examples in her own life. I walked away that day filled with conviction and humility because she cared enough to keep my pride in check.
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A Biblical Definition Of Pride
We already know that pride is a sin but how would you define it from Scriptures? Pride causes the wicked to lie about the righteous and For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride . So a person who is proud will lie about others and even about themselves but in time, they will be trapped in their pride and get caught in their own lies. A person will usually lie to make themselves look better and others look worse. There is also the bent toward violence, and because pride is their necklace violence covers them as a garment . Jesus gave us a list of the depravity of man when He mentioned its source: For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person . Pride is mentioned in the same breath as is sexual immorality, adultery, deceit, sensuality, and slander. So pride can be defined as someone who customarily lies, and the list Jesus gave us that come out of the human heart in Mark 7:21-23.
Characteristics Of A Proud Person
In the Bible, proud people are described as wicked and carnal who live by his own desires and passions he wants to achieve superiority and have dominion over his fellow men.
He is also characterized as a boastful person rebel without natural affection, gossiping he criticizes everything he idealizes strength and aggressiveness as authority over those close to him they are cruel and ruthless and far from God.
Because everything in the world, the passion of the flesh, the passion of the eyes and the arrogance of life, does not come from the Father, but from the world
1 John 2:16
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Pride Prevents Us From Serving Others
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Humility is the exact opposite of pride. Pride tells us to put ourselves at the center of the universe. However, humility actually calls us to love and serve the people around us by looking out for their interests.
Goliath Judgment Of David
And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.
The Philistine, who is Goliath, looks at the young man David and thinks David is not a worthy opponent to fight. Goliaths sinful pride only allows him to look at the outside of David, not his heart. It is a good thing that God judges our hearts and not by our physical appearances.
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Why Does Pride Keep Us Away
Pride is a sin that has the peculiarity of alienating us from others and from God.
The reason is that pride blinds us, depriving us of the opportunity to be empathetic and aware of our own humanity, which is deplorable, a low sinner, the greatest value of our humanity being the sacrifice that God made for us when Christ died on the Cross where with open arms I restore our relationship with God and with our fellow men.
Set Your Mind On Things Above
If you mind is constantly focused on people-pleasing, what others think, or how you can be more perfect to make yourself look better, you life will be miserable indeed.
In contrast, true joy is found in glorifying God and pointing to Him in all you do. Start by keeping the example of Christ in your mind often, meditating on the Scriptures and thinking about the cross. There is no greater display of humility than Jesus himself.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. .
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Whats Going On In Your Heart When You Do Things
Hezekiah was a godly man, but out of pride he showed the Babylonians all of his treasures. It might have seemed innocent and meaningless to give someone a tour of your place and your wealth, but his heart wasnt right. He had the wrong motives.
He wanted to show off. Even in the smallest things that you do examine your heart. What is your heart saying? Is the Holy Spirit telling you that your motives are wrong when you do certain things?
Repent! Weve all been guilty of this. The little small things that we do out of pride that people will never catch. They would never know we did it out of pride, but God knows. When you say certain things people might not know why you said it, but God knows. The heart is deceitful and it will lie to us and it will justify itself. Sometimes we have to sit down and say, did I do this or say this with an arrogant heart?
Do you preach for the Lord to save souls or do you preach for an open door? Do you sing for the Lord or do you sing so people can admire your beautiful voice? Do you debate to save or do you debate to boast about your wisdom? Do you want people to see something about you? Do you go to church for a spouse or for God?
24. 2 Kings 20:13 Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehousesthe silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oilhis armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
God Will Always Be Infinitely Superior To Men
Job 25:46 ESV: How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!
The Creator is perfect in every possible way, while we are likened to maggots.
Indeed, none of us is pure as we all inherit sin at birth.
Knowing this, how can you continue to be prideful about yourself?
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The Pharisee Judges The Sinner Woman
One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisees house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.’
The sinner woman, who was probably a prostitute, cleans Jesus feet and puts a lovely smelling perfume on Him. The Pharisee, instead of seeing a woman who needs the love of Christ Jesus, judges her and sees a woman who he thinks is the scum of society . This prideful person judges the woman because he views himself as better than her.
When Pride Becomes A Sin
But even this kind of pride can be a slippery slope if we end up taking credit for what weve done instead of thanking God for helping us. Pride is the deadliest of all sins because it leads to all other sins. Pride is delusional, spiteful, and bitter. At its root, it declares, I dont want God to be God. I want to be God!
Sinful pride is refusing to recognize Gods sovereign role in everything. Good pride is recognizing that apart from God, you can do nothing , and, therefore, giving God the glory for the things you accomplish.
In other words, anything that dethrones God from your heart is deadly. Anything that makes us sit on the throne of our hearts is definitely an issue.
It was the sin of pride, which first led Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. In Genesis, we read,
Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave it to her husband who was with her and ate it .
Despite the fact that God had created Satan and gave him all of the power and beauty he possessed, Satan wanted all of the glory. He turned into the enemy of God when he chose not to worship God in response to the gifts he was given.
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Pride In The Good Gifts God Has Gave Us
Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.’
It would be easy for us to boast about the things that we are good at or have a lot of. However, that comes from pride because everything we have comes from God. Instead, we should boast in God because we get everything from Him!
The Lord Has Supreme Authority Over Everyone
You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, He did not make me or the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding? Isaiah 29:16 ESV
God is ultimately sovereign and all creation belongs to Him, because He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible.
God knows everything about you, what you do, your heart and He even knows you better than you know yourself. Psalm 139:1-6 ESV
It sure helps me to let that sink in to humble myself before the Alpha and the Omega!
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Judas Sells Jesus For 30 Pieces Of Silver
Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
Even though Judas traveled with Jesus for three years, hearing Him teach Gods word, he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. In a prideful moment of defiance, Judas thought he was better than Jesus and was willing to trade Jesus to those that wanted to kill Him.
Justification By Faith Eliminates Boastfulness
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
Were saved by grace through faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, period.
And salvation doesnt come from us.
Its not our own doing because God knows our hearts, He knows that were prideful and boastful.
So stay away from fleshly manifestations such as pride and focus on forming a personal relationship with Jesus.
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