Monday Morning Devotion #253

This Week's Focal Passage:

"…God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." James 4:6 (KNJV)

Strong's:
Resists #498 antitassomai = to range oneself against
Proud #5244 huperephanos = appearing above others; haughty
Humble #5011 tapeinos = base, cast down, of low degree, lowly

"Humility is a virtue more often praised than sought." (Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Tim Grissom, Seeking Him, p. 21) As I read these words, I had to pause and reread them again. Why did these words ring true? Why do we praise a virtue/character trait yet think it is all right not to seek that character trait for ourselves? After searching God's Word for the answer to this question, I came to the conclusion that it is because we simply do not understand what pride is and how much God hates it. As children of the Risen Lord, the Most High, the Great I AM, we could not entertain pride for a moment, much less a lifetime, if we could truly comprehend the depth of its grip, the devastation that it delivers, and the separation it causes between us and our Lord.

What is pride? C.S. Lewis states in his book, Mere Christianity, "The essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Unchasity, greed, drunkenneses, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison. It was through pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind." Lewis goes on to explain that "everyone's pride is in competition with everyone else's pride…Pride has no pleasure of having something, but pride's pleasure is in having more than all the rest…Pride's very nature is competitive…God is absolute supremacy; however, prideful people cannot see anything above them for they are continually looking down…Prideful people have an "imaginary god"…They say, "I am nothing" but believe that their god thinks high of them…Pride comes straight from hell, other vices come from animal instincts…Pride is a spiritual cancer that eats up the possibility of love, contentment and common sense."

God's Word tells us that God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13), that pride brings shame (Proverbs 11:2), that pride comes before a devastating fall (Proverbs 16:18), that God will bring down the prideful (Proverbs 29:23), that pride is deceptive (Obadiah 1:3), that God will destroy the proud (Matthew 23:12), and that God resists the proud (James 4:6). Because of God's unconditional love, his unspeakable grace, his unfathomable mercy, God promises us "For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite." (Isaiah 57:15) Contrite means to be completely broken before the Lord. Understanding that HE alone is God and that we are created to bring glory and honor to Him in every area of our lives and in everything thing we do. Our absolute motivation is to point others to the Savior and to claim nothing for ourselves. A contrite heart understands the destruction of its sin and confesses that sin whole-heartedly to the Lord praising Him for His forgiveness and restoration.

Before I began studying pride in light of Scripture, I truly did not understand what pride was. I guess I thought that pride was thinking too much of oneself and I did not see why that was so terrible. Certainly, I understood that it was sin, but I did not understand why that particular sin was so destructive. The revelation came as I was studying our focal passage. Reread that once more. "…God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6) Resists in this verse means "to set/range oneself against." When we set ourselves against something/someone, we are on completely different sides. We are no longer walking together, but warring against one another. There is no fellowship.

I am a visual person, so the picture that formed in my mind was of God on one side and me on the other, facing Him and opposing Him. How can that be? A child of God living a life that is in direct opposition to her King? Why would a child of God want to be warring against her Maker? Why would I think for one moment that I know more than God? What makes me think I can run my life better than the Maker of the universe, the Eternal God, the all-knowing, all-powerful Redeemer? What makes me think that I could love myself more or more perfectly than the One who came to die for me and to pay the ransom for my sin? I have been bought with a precious price and restored through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I am nothing, yet the Lord God loved me enough to sacrifice Himself so that I could have the privilege and the blessing and the honor of having intimate fellowship with Him! Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned against You!!!

"I Am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images." (Isaiah 42:8) God will not share His glory with another, not even His own children. God is the only One worthy of praise, honor and glory. We were created to serve Him in such a way that our lives point others to Jesus Christ, for HE is the only One who can save them from their sins and renew, rebuild, heal, and restore them. So then, how do prideful people turn from their sin? "In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said; "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said; "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:1-5)

An awareness of God's holiness brought Isaiah to his knees. Isaiah had an encounter with the Lord God and HE immediately understood who God is and who he/Isaiah was. "An awareness of God's holiness drives us to acknowledge our sin and receive God's forgiveness." (Seeking Him, p.31) My Friend, if the Lord God is revealing to you the sin of pride in your life, do not hesitate to confess that sin and turn from it immediately. Pride is destructive above all else and it intertwines itself throughout all areas of our lives. God is gracious and HE alone opens our eyes to our need for Him. It is for our good that God convicts us of sin and that HE allows us the desire to confess that sin and turn to Him. A life lived for the satisfaction of selfish desires is a wasted life, but a life lived in pursuit of holiness is a life that reaps eternal rewards! "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and HE will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and HE will lift you up." (James 4:7-10)

Your Sister in Christ,

Michelle Jones
September 15, 2008
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