7 replies to this topic

[E.J.]

Good morning Brothers & Sisters,

I thank God for each and every one of you; that you are indeed precious, the hairs on your head are numbered, He calls you by name. He calls out to you as the beloved, and loves you for who you are. He loves you at this very moment, not the person you will become in a month or couple years, He loves you for you. You see, a great and masterful work of satan is such; that he has been able to desensitize generation after generation. Words dont hold the meaning that they once did. For instance, we should tremble when we hear the word, hell. Instead, it has become a part of every day conversation and we as a society have become desensitized. Furthermore, is the idea of love. Unlike what we are accustomed to, the love of the Father is unconditional. It is not based upon smooth circumstances or performance. He loves you because He loves you. Unlike our wavering, pallid and shallow love, the love of our Father has no limits, it sets no boundaries and it cannot be contained. You are precious in His sight and He loves you without caution or regret. He loves you in the morning sun and the evening rain. The fact of the matter is that He cannot stop loving you!!


I would ask that you would pray for me, that my heart would palpitate with genuine humility. You see, apart from grace, all I would ever be is a body of unmarred clay, wrapped in egotistical flesh. I am a proud man, and by the grace if God, I am pursuing to walk a path of genuine and true humility. The humility in which our precious Jesus so graciously served us with.



Opening for discussion.........

What if I were to say that..........at the root of every sin, every problem is pride. What if I were to say............in which our Lord despises most is a prideful heart and a proud look.

[Meema]

Pride goeth before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. Psalms 16:18

I often see this misquoted as “pride goeth before a fall”. But that is perhaps because no one wants to admit that destruction is considerably worse than just a fall, so pride, or self-love/self-righteousness, is indeed the subtle sin that separates us from Christ. We can’t serve two masters, if we insist on being captains of our own fate and destiny then we are allowed to proceed - until we sink our own ship. Our choice. Always. “Come” is an invitation, not a demand. But that one word is packed with caveats, including dying to self.

[E.J.]

I just finished reading a book by C.J. Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness. He called my attention to Isaiah 66:2 in which the Lord says: This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word!! The book defines humility as; honestly assessing ourselves in light of God's holiness and our sinfulness. Furthermore, If we have no merit of our own, our works are but filthy rags, we abide in the doctrine of grace. For the Lord says in James 4:6; I resist the proud but give grace to the humble.

Instead of a worldly view of pride, what may we say of pride biblically? The book gave a definition in which I see fit; Pride is when sinful humans beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him, essentially, contending with God for supremacy.

Jonathan Edwards spent his whole life constantly battling pride. I can most certainly give heed to Edwards words in which he said, "pride is the worst viper that is in the heart. It is the greatest disturber of the souls's peace and sweet communion with Christ" On a personal level, this speaks volumes because I am constantly in battle with pride. No matter what the situation or focus is, I am extremely vulnerable to pride. Even spiritual pride shows its ugly face far more times than I would like to admit. Pride is often very secretive, subtle and deceitful. It takes on all different forms, shapes and sizes. I, especailly, must guard against it in every sphere of my life. May every fiber of our being transfer the glory to God; for He is worthy of it all. He must not have our best, He must have our everything and all!!

Truly, truly, truly............To God Alone Be The Glory

[Kevin Blankenship]

I would say that you are correct. The Pride of Life was listed by John the Beloved Apostle. as also was the Lust of the Eyes, and the Lust of the Flesh.

[Jay Turner]

What if I were to say that..........at the root of every sin, every problem is pride. What if I were to say............in which our Lord despises most is a prideful heart and a proud look. - E.J.

When I think of the word pride, I see it as being happy or pleased with a job well done. When we place too much value in the job done, that can very easily lead to sin, but is it possible to have pride in a thing or a job without it leading to sin. When my son gets a good grade in a tough class, I feel pride in the job that he has done and I hope that he will have a level of pride also. Pride can be a motivational force to help someone to continue moving forward in tough situations. It seems to me that there can be a danger in how we word things. It can be easy to take a statement like "At the root of every sin is pride" and start thinking that pride itself is a sin. It can be, but I don't believe it necessarily has to be.

Is it possible to sin without pride being the root cause? Here is a question: Is it possible to be raised without a sense of right and wrong and if so, could you sin out of ignorance where pride really wasn't a factor, sinning simply because you don't know any better?

[E.J.]

The compelling force in which we must be propelled in all things is Christ. Perhaps maybe each of us have a different perception on what pride really is?

As I see it Jay, and this is just from my perspective, as I know a wise man seeks counsel; if I were to have pride as my motivational force to propel me to finish a task at hand, or to guide me with perseverence through a tough time; to me that means I am depending on myself and the tools that I feel I possess. I lived 23.5 years believing that I was the cream of the crop and I had everything I needed, pride was my backbone.

I have a terribly tough time doing this but we must live with eternity's values in perspective; thus we must not be earthly minded. Although there is nothing wrong with being happy about an accomplishment, I believe it to be critical that we transfer the glory to Christ, for He is responsible for the air we breath. For our accomplishments are a direct result of the grace He has given us.

Pride to me symbolizes a puffed-up chest. It symbolizes to me, an "I got this" type of attitude.

I believe you could absolutely sin out of ignorance, but I say this, would ignorance be the root of the problem? Underneath the soil, what is truly causing the sin to grow? Ignorance may be a petal on the flower to which the naked eye can see, but what is causing that petal of ignorance to grow? The ignorance stems from the root of pride, as to say that someone may be ignorant because they think they "have it all figured out", that, "they don't need any help". Their ignorance is a result from which they are not poor in spirit, but they are puffed up, believing they have the merits to which men should honor.

[Jay Turner]

One thing that I have learned is how just about anything can be a blessing or a curse, good or evil, right or wrong, depending on the circumstances surrounding it and how it is used. It is when we leave a thing unchecked, allowing it to run wild, that it starts becoming a problem. Whether directly or indirectly, God made everything...and everything was made good. Satan really has no creative ability. He just takes the good things that God creates and perverts them to serve his bidding. In like manner, pride, in and of itself, is neither good nor evil. When left unchecked, it can start taking the place of God and becomes hubris. And it seems that that is more what you are talking about.

When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments and the Law, He put into place a standard for living in which they were to follow. To live according to that law was to live righteously and to break that law was to sin. Before they received the law, they were doing many of the things that they were later commanded not to do in the law. Whether it was sin or not is debatable, since up to that point God had not yet revealed the law to them, but we do know that once it was put into place it became the standard for which sin was judged. Before the law was revealed, what role would pride have played in the acts that became known as sin according to the law? Hubris is an attitude of direct defiance to God, but part of the act of hubris is bound to the knowledge of the standard through which one can defy God. When someone is ignorant of those standards, they can break the law, but the breaking of that law would not be based off of hubris, at least not directly. Pride could play a part in the breaking of the law, but without the knowledge that pride should be kept in check, you would have no reason to. It is in the knowledge of a thing that we become responsible to that thing.

Basically I would agree with you that pride plays a major role in sin, but I don't believe that it can be said that it is the root of it.

[Charles Miles]

I have no strong feelings about pride being or not being the root of all sin, but it is right there in the mix and always has been. Satan`s sin was pride and I suppose his act of pride and rebellion may have been the first sin against God. What happened to satan gives us a glipse of how God views sin, as well as how He can deal with it. I praise God for His great grace extended to me for all my sins, but He does say that He remembers my sin no more, so who am I to keep remionding Him of it? I do think pride, as referenced as a sin, is the dependance on self and what one can attain by works to make one acceptable or even equal with God. Some think they can be "good enough" or think that they are no worse than the man down the street, so they get a pass. Is this pride? Possibly so.
Jay`s remarks about the Law brings me back to thoughts I have had about Pre-Law sin. Was there sin before the law was given? Yes. So does that mean there were rules set by God for living during the very early times? Semms as if this was the case. God punished people for things He called sin way before the law. Caine and all the people except Noah`s family during the flood times. Noah`s sons who saw him naked? Now there is an item that may need discussion in today`s society!! Anyway, there must have been rules about which we know very little.
All this is interesting to discuss, but we do have a way to decide if something is a sin. " I will write on their hearts..." I know there are things that I used to do without even a thought but now I don`t even get through doing them before I come under conviction....I KNOW it`s wrong for me becuse Jesus in me tells me it`s wrong. Some of these things may not be wrong for everyone, but I know deep within my soul that they are wrong for me......and I stop, or do my best to change and stop whatever it is and ask for forgiveness. Isn`t it wonderful to ask the Lord to forgive and the reply is " I already have"?

In Christ,

Charlie