The Bottom Line, Ministries Christian News, Articles, & Poetry There is a danger hiding in the Christian community. I’ve seen it, felt it … the power of pride, spiritual pride.
I have seen how it can trap a person without that person ever realizing what happened. After we become saved by grace and start producing good fruit, we come to experience love, we experience God in that love. It’s a powerful thing.
There is a key to Christianity, without this key we are in danger.
The key is humility.
Due to our human nature, there are pitfalls in our pride. Many of us are proud of our deep theology, of the college we attended, or our intellectual knowledge we have gained. Sometimes we get so excited with the Good News, with the results of a great prayer life, the blessings we are given on a daily basis … we’re sure no one could ever be as close to God as we are right then, or so some are inclined to think. This is when we are dangling our toes over the pit below, ready to fall in.
I’m guilty of pride, then I remember some of the things I’ve done and I’m humbled again. I know He does not remember all which I’ve confessed and cried over, but I do … I hope to never forget.
It keeps me humble and far from the pit of pride.
Pride lands me flat on my face, but humility prepares me for honor. – Proverbs 29:23 (THE MESSAGE)
This post, Pitfalls of Pride rings familiarly in the halls of my memory. I find myself having to revisit this truth often—an area that requires constant maintenance to keep the debilitating ogre of pride from taking over. Humility is indeed the penicillin needed to keep ourselves aware of our constant need for God’s amazing grace. We tend to start feeling so good about where we are in our spiritual growth that we forget it is His Spirit within us, enabling us to live lives that are pleasing to God. Whenever I begin to forget, God will set me down in my own strength and let me fall on my face, as if to say, “You see? You are still weak, yet, I am strong. You need to rely on me for your righteousness, not on yourself.” Then all I can say is, “Yes Lord!”
Hi Sheldon! Nice to bump into you here. Thanks for reading, your comments are pure encouragement.
Amen! It can be so easy to get lost in pride, and the devil has a way of making it seem so effortless. However, we truly need to guard our actions and our motives for doing things, so we don’t fall into the pit of pride.
Pride is a sneaky bugger. Thanks for reading and commenting Amelia. (hugs)