Source Ministries International

THE WORD IS: Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

THE POINT IS: Ever since “The Fall,” mankind has been stuck on themselves. The result has been an ingrained attitude of what God calls pride. Pride is inherent in the entire human race. Pride is self-reliance—the epitome of self-sufficiency. 

Pride can be either extroverted or introverted, but it’s all the same. Pride always puts ME on a pedestal. It’s all about ME: my needs, my wants, my plans, my possessions. My, my, my! Pride says, “It’s my life, therefore I demand my rights! I will get what I want, and I will do it my way!” It’s really a matter of my will, not Thine, be done. 

Everyone is born with this self-seeking, self-serving, self-sufficient disposition. The Apostle Paul referred to this in Philippians 3:3-4 as trusting in the flesh or having confidence in the flesh—the flesh being our humanity. Certainly our humanity has been endowed by our Creator with many marvelous talents and abilities. He’s the One who created it, and He said it was very good (Genesis!:31). 

However, left to ourselves, the outcome is always one of pride: pride in our achievements, pride in our attainments—self-aggrandizement to the nth degree. “Look what I can do.” “Look what I know.” Pride is a know-it-all attitude. 

This know-it-all attitude of pride stems from the tree of knowledge. We think such knowledge is our source of nourishment, when in fact, it’s our source of destruction. As long as a person has a haughty attitude of pride, he will continue to fall. It’s inevitable! 

Such fleshly dependency is the downfall of all mankind, and it remains a blight upon the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ even unto this very day. Far too many Christians still operate from a fleshly point of reference—living from the outward man of their humanity. Regardless of what others may call it, God still calls it pride!

THE APPLICATION IS: God makes it clear how He feels about pride in Proverbs 6:16-17; He hates it! Why does God hate pride? He hates it because it robs Him of His rightful place in your life, and it robs you of your rightful inheritance in the Lord. 

Pride quenches the Spirit, thus limiting your ability to function according to your full potential as a new creation in Christ. Take a close look at yourself. Is your life falling apart? Sure, you may appear to be succeeding on the outside, some of the time, to some extent. But how are you really? 

Are you falling down on the job, in your marriage, or in your personal life: ever learning, yet never able to experientially know the true reality—that full and meaningful life which comes from Christ alone? Pride is very likely the culprit. So if you don’t want to fall down, then don’t rely on the “arm of flesh,” because it will always fail you (Jeremiah 17:5). 

Instead, humble yourself, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and give Him complete control of your life. Yield yourself and your members unto God as instruments of righteousness. This will enable you to live from the inward man of the Spirit, rather than the outward man of the flesh. Thus, your flesh will be harnessed by the Spirit to accomplish Kingdom purposes. And that will make all the difference!