One of the sneakiest yet most destructive character traits that any person can display is pride. Pride causes us to have an inflated view of ourselves, thinking of others as less significant than ourselves. Pride leads us to make selfish decisions. While the enemy tempts us to give in to pride, Scripture calls Christ followers to a different way: humility. If we want to honor God by the way we live our lives, we must live humbly and spend time with people who also model humility and encourage the children in our lives to do the same.
Throughout Scripture, we are warned against pride in our lives. One of the places we read about the dangers of pride is in James 4. James writes in this passage of Scripture, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble' (verse 6). Indeed, God opposes the proud. Pride goes against God’s very nature. Pride tempts us to begin to think of ourselves too highly, in a position that only He deserves. That is why Proverbs 16 tells us, “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall” (verse 18). Because God “opposes the proud,” choosing pride leads to our destruction. Pride will always have a negative impact on us and our lives.
Instead of turning to pride, Scripture calls us to be people who live humbly. James calls us to practice humility before God as he continues writing in James 4, “Humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you” (verses 7-8). If we turn to God in humility, He will come close to us. This, my friends, is a much better way than being caught in pride.
If we want to be people who choose humility instead of pride, we need to regularly take time to reflect on any areas of our lives where pride might have crept in. How has pride snuck into your own life? Are you willing to turn away from that pride and, in humility, turn back to God? I urge you, friend, to choose to turn from pride. Additionally, seek friends who live in humility and teach the children in your life to do the same.
Spend some time now asking God to examine your heart. Specifically, ask Him to reveal any pride in your life. As He reveals areas of pride, confess those areas to Him. Ask Him to help you live a life of humility instead of pride. Commit to spending time around people who model humility, and have a conversation with the children in your life about spending time around people who model humility, as well.
1What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
11 Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. 12 God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.
17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
