Letting Go of Your Pride

                First, I’d like to take a moment and talk about spiritual pride. Many who claim a faith in Jesus and God walk around like they don’t make mistakes or sin. That’s false and we can’t walk around like we’re Jesus back on Earth. We’re not; we are born as sinners. Christ was the only one to be born into the world free of sin. Romans 3:23 states that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

“Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

-Psalm 51:5

                The bible says that to refrain from being spiritually proud we must confess our sins- confess them to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to God.

“He who conceals his sin does not prosper, but whoever

confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

-Proverbs 28:13

                Now, I’m going to discuss pride in general. As humans, we often get caught up in the things that we do and pat ourselves on the back. We look to others constantly for praise. I know this is not all of us, but it is many of us. Sometimes we might not even realize it or we don’t realize it until after we’ve done it. But the Lord says that we should not be proud. Through pride we often forget where our source of accomplishment comes from: God. We often say, “Look what I did,” but instead we should say, “Look at what God helped me do.” You know what, we shouldn’t even have to say that. Instead, we should wait for others to see what we are doing or have done and if they give us praise we should say, “I thank God for giving me the ability to do this.”

“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands

have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord

your God, for it is he who gives you the

ability to produce wealth.”

-Deuteronomy 8:17-18

                We must also do the works of the Lord without looking for praise from others. For example, in Matthew 6:1-4 it discusses the topic of giving to the needy. Normal people go running around and bragging about what they have done so that they could be praised and exalted. However, they gain no reward from God. We are supposed to bring glory and honor to His name alone.

“Then your Father, who has seen what is done

in secret, will reward you.”

-Matthew 6:4

                In Deuteronomy 8:10-14  it warns us that if we don’t remember God then when we have wealth and riches our “hearts will become proud” and we will forget the Lord our God. God does not like it when we are proud. If it weren’t for Him then we would not have the gifts and talents he ordained us with. Pride can destroy us; it can bring us to a true low point in our lives.

“This is why the Scripture says:

‘God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble.”

-James 4:6

“A man’s pride brings him low, but a man

of lowly spirit gains honor.”

-Proverbs 29:23