Pride’s Sore Thumb

Have you ever wondered what makes pride so offensive to God?

Pride is a form of worship; self-worship.

That explains why it lets nothing stand in its way, however minute.

And it is so even when it is a supposedly man of God having it because it stands out even more.

Allow me to give us an illustration from the book of Esther.

Remember Haman?

Everybody was bowing before him and he enjoyed it, thoroughly.

He didn’t even notice somebody was not complying until it was brought to his attention.

Then his whole life changed.

That person, that insignificant person who defied his ‘divine’ status became the only person and thing in his sight.

Nothing else mattered to him than dealing with that single threat to his divinity.

Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. (Esther 5:13)

Imagine that the opportunity of a lifetime mattered nothing to him.

It is difficult to imagine it but Mordecai refusing to bow to him now occupied and run his whole life.

Even revenge was not enough to give him peace.

Incidentally, that was the thing God used to bring him down.

I am saying that pride is the worship of self. And we know that worship and jealousy go hand in hand.

Does it surprise us then that God resists the proud?

And that is the reason Jesus was always at loggerheads with the Jewish spiritual leaders. They proclaimed God but lived in pride.

Sadly, many ministers fall into that pride, especially as their spiritual status rises.

Incidentally someone will many times be elevated for pride to really blossom. People will slowly bow to you for you to realise your divine status. Then you will slowly acknowledge it.

False humility is pride in a camouflage. And that is what men of God possess in abundance.

Sadly, it is the very discerning who are able to see it in others. Meaning that it requires greater discernment to see it in me. And by then it will have started becoming obnoxious to the spiritually attuned.

Pride prides itself in prominence and entitlement. Remember Haman?

So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself? (Esther 6:6)

Pride has no place for another. That is what makes it an abomination in God’s sight.

And that is why Christ came so that we can see first-hand what He loves.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2: 5 – 8)

That is the correct antidote to pride, living for causes outside of self.

Living for God is the ultimate in dealing with pride. And of course it is serving God according to His standards.