Pride…watch that slide!
Psalm 10:4 The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 16:5, 18 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though they join forces, none will go unpunished. . . Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.
Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.
Daniel 5:20 “But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.
Galatians 6:3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.peope
I find so many areas that I need to have the Holy Spirit help me with when reading the bible. I know I have improved in many areas, with the Holy Spirit guiding me through and I find I’m changing with His help. Still I have so far to go.
It’s strange to me; for much of my life I felt so much less than others in numerous ways …no need to mention the various “truths/untruths” I have lived with all my life. Sometimes, thinking back, I think there were too many to recount. Both pride and low self esteem are symptoms of being selfish. It involves thinking too much of ourselves, being too self oriented; we become an “idol” to ourselves.
Pride places our view of ourselves over someone or many other ‘someones’ over ourselves. We think we are prettier, more hard working, more worthy of recognition, just better somehow that someone else, or something; but it is a matter of believing you are more worthy, and better than someone else. That is DEFINITELY not true in God’s eyes.
Low self esteem is the opposite end of pride, yet it still involves one being involved with the idea or view of themselves. One would think that is the direct opposite of pride, and it is, but it is still SELF centered, not God centered, not being thankful for the person you are in God’s eyes, who He sees you are, who He created you to be. And in essence you are finding fault with His creation. We are His creation. He made us—‘I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.’ (Psalm 139:14). We then have NO cause to belittle ourselves. . .
He created us ‘fearfully and wonderfully’; that is EACH of us. Each has his/her own strengths, weaknesses, dispositions, gifts, and we can develop further who He wants us to become through reading and knowing His word, and asking for help from the Holy Spirit. We all become better when we lean on Him and follow His words and learn to become more loving, more Christ-like, kinder, more forgiving toward others as well as ourselves, and be seeking Him at all times. There used to be a commercial advertising joining the Army, “Come, and be all you can be.” But that is what our God wants; not to be all wrapped in our thoughts, feelings, but to step out and beyond and do for and serve others.
When we seek Him, we learn we are NOT better than others, nor are we worse than others, and certainly have no business envying others. He gave each of us particular sets of strengths, wisdom, skills and so forth. Some are wonderful caretakers, givers, compassionate and teachers, preachers, leaders, and so many other varied, necessary skills. We are not endowed all the same. That did not take me long to learn. . . but it took long to stop the envy, the wishing I could be someone else, or have their skills, strength, beauty, or whatever I thought I was lacking.
But the “lack” I saw was in MY mind, not the way God saw/sees me. That took me work to get my brain to catch up to how God sees me. A lot of work, yes, it sometimes is something I still need to reinforce, still need to find verses and refresh my vision to His. Yes, He and I both agree I need to improve more, but it is wrong for me to see and think of myself as less, or for that matter, more and better. I need to see myself with honest vision the way God views me—totally, with good, with strength, with the love He has taught me to share. Please do not read any of this as God does not see many areas I need to improve–but He does not want me to improve like another–He wants me to improve from my sins, my places where I fall short of giving my ALL to Him. And there are plenty of those; He wants me to know it is MY journey with HIM. Not someone else’s; just mine and His.
So both pride, that willful thought and thinking you are better than another or several others, that is Pharisee thinking. They threw in more laws than God had decreed, then stood in judgment when others did not follow those. We tend to judge others and often see them as ‘less than’ and see ourselves as better. Better than what? And truly I do not want to be part of the Pharisee thinkers.
We are all created equal. Genesis 1:26-28 Proverbs 22:2 Romans 2:11 Mark 12:35
God loves each of us. He does not want us seeing ourselves better or higher than another. He wants us to be humble and honest. He wants us to not be in comparison with others, to not be prideful or self critical. Remember you are His precious child. Love yourself as He loves you.
He wants us to grow with the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirit right our wrongs that cause God hurt–our sins which stem from the selfish pride.
Thank You, God for the wonderful examples of Your Son and the Holy Spirit’s guidance in helping me become more as You want me to be. You have abundantly blessed me and ‘mybellaviews.’
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