Walk Of Life – Day 16, April 2021 – Thoughts From The Book Of Proverbs – DON’T s
Do Not Be Proud
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall – Proverbs 16 : 18
As part of the sanctification process that God would like to start with each one of us through the power of the Holy Spirit, is to either take out or prevent certain types of negative qualities from entering into our personalities. And without question, one of the major negative qualities that God detests is pride.
This carcinogenic and destructive quality, probably more than any other negative quality, has brought down more kingdoms, overturned more empires, caused more wars, destroyed more marriages, ruined more friendships, than all of the other negative qualities combined.
The spirit of pride has to be the absolute king of all the negative and destructive qualities that can enter into our personality – and no one is safe and immune from it. Therefore, all Christians, young and old, need to keep a sharp eye on this negative quality, and do everything not to let this spirit get a foothold and grip into their personality and mindset.
One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is the fruit of self-control. Not only will a person need to use self-control to help keep a proper grip on this quality from getting out of control in their personality – but they will also need the help of the Holy Spirit to help them keep proper control. This is especially important for those who are called by God to work in any position of leadership within His church.
Proverbs 16:18 states that: “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Here you see two key words “pride” and “haughty.”
Webster’s Dictionary and several of the different Bible Dictionaries describe “pride” as:
An unduly high opinion of oneself
A domineering spirit
Exaggerated self-esteem, conceit
A puffed up and inflated ego
Boasting – A conceited sense of one’s superiority.
A Redeemed child of God can stay away from lying, stealing, by being covetous or from any other sin but this cancer called ‘Pride’ will creep in as a wide and thick bush. Therefore, what can start out as a humble, justified, and reasonable kind of self-respect for one’s self and one’s own efforts and accomplishments in the Lord can quickly deteriorate and turn into pride where one starts to lose all sense of who they really are in the Lord. As we see in Scripture, the Lord uses some very intense and strong language when describing this negative quality. Not only does God call pride an actual sin in His sight, but He goes one step further and calls it an actual abomination! Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 16:5).
When God says that pride will come before a “fall” – He is giving all of us a major warning that some of these falls could end up being be very severe. We need to stay humble and accountable in our walk with the Lord; if we do not we will have to pay with severe consequences.
We are not to glory in ourselves or to any other men and women in this life – and we are not to glory in our own accomplishments, in our own strength, or in any of the riches and wealth that we may have acquired in this life. The only Person that we are to glory to in this life is to the Lord Himself.
Remember that with any type of position of leadership comes power and authority, and with power and authority comes the possibility of pride and corruption. THEREFORE, BEWARE!
