The Deadly Sin

"...you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  We all know the story.  The serpent was

crafty and deceived the woman.  He did this by appealing to her pride and causing her to question God.  Pride.  Because of pride death entered the world.  Ever since then pride has been destroying lives.  

Cain wasn't happy because God accepted Abel's sacrifice and not his.  Pride.  He murdered his brother.

Naaman thought the waters of his own home had to be better than any river in Israel.  He almost missed out on the healing God wanted to give.  

Nebuchadnezzar was so full of pride that he had a statue made of himself and commanded everyone to worship it.  Later in his life he lost his mind for seven years and lived like an animal, all because of pride.

Remember when David went up against Goliath?  Goliath was full of pride and mocked David.  That didn't last long.

What about the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.  The Pharisee even bragged about himself to God.  He was not justified.

We could go on and on.  Paul before his conversion, the apostles, Herod, Pharaoh...

James has something to say about pride. “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  Pride is deadly.  It is a poison.  It will kill us.  God is opposed to pride because of his great love for us.  He knows that pride will keep us from the grace he desires to pour out on us.

How many have you known who refuse to submit to God because they think they are better than others.  They are good people and of course they don't need God.  

Pride can destroy a ministry.  When a church leader starts to feel that they are strong and can get into compromising situations and they will resist sin, pride often leads to their downfall and the destruction of their good influence.

Recently I have seen how pride can destroy a person.  A longtime worker in the kingdom has begun to think too highly of himself and is more interested in making a great name for himself than in furthering the Lord's work.  He was heard to brag that he was going to build himself the nicest house in the area.  May God humble him before it is too late.

C.S. Lewis said, “the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.”  Pride is the foundation of sins.  We start to think we know better than God.

We must examine ourselves daily and root out pride.  We are saved by the grace of God, just as every other saved person is.  We are lost without Him.  Jesus died because of MY sins.  Pride will rear its ugly head frequently, but we must destroy it completely before it destroys us for eternity.