THE WORD OF GOD SAYS
Pride can easily creep into our hearts and minds without us even knowing it. Let’s always self assess and re-evaluate where we stand with God, because pride can either bring us closer to Him or it can isolate us from Him. If it’s your heart’s desire is to draw closer to Him, then let’s unpack how pride originates and how it’s characterized so that we can be vigilant and guard our hearts and minds against the plans and schemes of the enemy. It is also important for us to understand the consequences of pride and what we can do to stay within our boundaries and remain in God’s will to bring Him much pleasure in the way we choose to live our lives in humility, obedience and complete serenity.
And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment.
Jude 1:6 NLT
Photo Credit to Eli Rezkallah
HOW DOES IT ORIGINATE?
WHEN YOU THINK, “I’VE GOT IT MADE!”
When things were going great I crowed, “I’ve got it made. I’m God ’s favorite. He made me king of the mountain.” Then you looked the other way and I fell to pieces.
Psalm 30:6-7 MSG
THE GIFT YOU HAVE CAME FROM GOD, DON’T FORGET THAT!
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].
James 1:17 AMP
YOUR GIFT CAME FROM GOD, NOT FROM YOURSELF
So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven.
James 1:16-18 MSG
THERE’S NO NEED TO BRAG, YOU DON’T PLAY THE MAJOR ROLE
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Ephesians 2:7-10 MSG
THE DANGER OF TAKING PLEASURE IN YOUR EGO
Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life in your neighborhood so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.
1 Peter 2:11-12 MSG
A PROUD HEART
Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin.
Proverbs 21:4 NLT
SELF-GLORIFICATION
“I said to the arrogant, ‘Do not boast;’ And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn [of self-glorification].
Psalm 75:4 AMP
CONTRADICTING GOD SHOWS OFF YOUR IGNORANCE
If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.
1 John 1:8-9 MSG
HOW IS IT CHARACTERIZED?
DON’T BE STUCK UP
Don’t be stuck-up and think you’re better than everyone else.
Proverbs 30:13 MSG
JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DOESN’T MEAN IT’S RIGHT TO THROW YOUR WEIGHT AROUND
Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children.
1 Thessalonians 2:6-8 MSG
THE EVIDENCE THAT YOU CAN’T BE TRUSTED
My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?
James 2:1-4 MSG
PRIDE IN YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND POSSESSIONS
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:15-17 NLT
THE DEVIL’S FAVORITE TRAP
A church leader must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap.
1 Timothy 3:6-7 NLT
CHARACTER TRAITS OF A SELF-RIGHTEOUS PERSON
A self-righteous person is convinced he’s smarter than seven wise counselors who tell him the truth.
Proverbs 26:16 TPT
BEING WORSE THAN A FOOL
There’s only one thing worse than a fool, and that’s the smug, conceited man always in love with his own opinions.
Proverbs 26:12 TPT
WHAT’S THE CONSEQUENCES?
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:15-17 NLT
Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.
Psalms 138:6 NLT
PRIDE GETS THE BOOBY PRIZE
God ’s curse blights the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. He gives proud skeptics a cold shoulder, but if you’re down on your luck, he’s right there to help. Wise living gets rewarded with honor; stupid living gets the booby prize.
Proverbs 3:33-35 MSG
LANDING FLAT ON YOUR FACE
Pride lands you flat on your face; humility prepares you for honors.
Proverbs 29:23 MSG
Human pride will be brought down, and human arrogance will be humbled. Only the Lord will be exalted on that day of judgment.
Isaiah 2:11 NLT
WHAT’S OFFENSIVE TO GOD?
Everyone who is proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting and exceedingly offensive to the Lord; Be assured he will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 16:5 AMP
SEATS OF “HONOR”
“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”
Luke 11:43-44 NLT
“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because Egypt became proud and arrogant, and because it set itself so high above the others, with its top reaching to the clouds, I will hand it over to a mighty nation that will destroy it as its wickedness deserves. I have already discarded it.
Ezekiel 31:10-11 NLT
Love the Lord , all you godly ones! For the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but he harshly punishes the arrogant.
Psalms 31:23 NLT
ARROGANCE
Human pride will be brought down, and human arrogance will be humbled. Only the Lord will be exalted on that day of judgment.
Isaiah 2:11 NLT
WHAT COMES JUST BEFORE DESTRUCTION?
Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18 NLT
GOD WILL DECIDE
But God is the Judge; He puts down one and lifts up another.
Psalm 75:7 AMP
THE HOUSE OF THE PROUD
The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but he protects the property of widows.
Proverbs 15:25 NLT
GRACE TO THE HUMBLE
The Lord mocks the mockers but is gracious to the humble.
Proverbs 3:34 NLT
WHY DID I NOT LISTEN?
Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors? I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.”
Proverbs 5:13-14 NLT
WHAT’S THE CURE?
‘if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ‘
2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV
‘and My people, who are called by My Name, humble themselves, and pray and seek (crave, require as a necessity) My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear [them] from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land. ‘
2 Chronicles 7:14 AMP
When pride comes [boiling up with an arrogant attitude of self-importance], then come dishonor and shame, But with the humble [the teachable who have been chiseled by trial and who have learned to walk humbly with God] there is wisdom and soundness of mind.
Proverbs 11:2 AMP
WHEN YOU SEE PEOPLE START IDOLIZING YOU, THEN IT’S TIME TO SLIP AWAY—GOD DOES NOT SHARE HIS GLORY WITH ANYBODY
Jesus saw that in their enthusiasm, they were about to grab him and make him king, so he slipped off and went back up the mountain to be by himself.
John 6:14-15 MSG