consequences of pride
“Pride is before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).
Pride, the firstborn of hell, impure and vile, is a ringleader and captain among iniquities, boldness, and sin that defies God. There is nothing charming about him. Pride exalts him, and he seeks to honor himself; but it is, of all things, the most despised. Pride wins no crown; men never honor her, not even the servile slaves of the earth; for all men look down on the proud man, and consider him less than themselves. It was pride that threw Lucifer out of heaven and it was pride that cost our first parents (Adam and Eve) their place in Paradise. Pride is the first sin to enter a man’s heart and the last to come out. No sin is more offensive to God than the sin of pride.
Do you generally think that your path is the right one, the only one or the best one? Do you look down on those who are less educated, less wealthy, less refined, or less successful than you? That is pride.
CONSEQUENCES OF PRIDE
1. PRIDE LEADS TO CALAMITY
“Pride goes before destruction, says the wise, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Proud people spread calamity by overestimating their abilities, setting unrealistic goals, refusing to respect proper limits, and putting too much pressure on themselves. Ambitious pastors drive churches into fiscal disaster, and athletes overtrain and suffer career-ending injuries. Pride also leads to “spectacularly bad judgments” because proud people pursue their grandiose goals without proper planning and resources. People convinced of their own brilliance are bound to make stupid mistakes. A successful businessman who ignores normal business practices, thinking he is a financial genius, finds himself on the precipice of disaster “The wise man is cautious and turns away from evil,” says the Bible, “but the fool disregards and is careless” (Proverbs 14:16).
The fall of the proud is often attributed in the Bible to divine judgment:
– The proud Persian courtier Haman was hanged on the same gallows he had built for the execution of Mordecai, a man who had angered Haman by refusing to obey (Esther 7:9-10).
– Nebuchadnezzar rejoiced in his own glory and was rewarded with madness. He did not return to his throne until he “learned that the Most High has sovereignty over the mortal realm and he gives it to whomever he pleases” (Daniel 4:30-33).
– King Sennacherib boasted of his might and defied God and was soon after assassinated by his sons
(2 Kings 19:1-37).
– Herod was praised as a god, but was struck down by an angel “because he had not given glory to God” (Acts 12:20-21).
– The psalmist declared that God had put the proud on slippery ground: even at the height of their earthly prosperity and security, they are never far from ruin (Psalm 73:4-20).
– A day is coming, Isaiah said, when “the haughty eyes of the peoples will be cast down, and the pride of all will be humbled” (Isaiah 2:11).
2. SELF-CONTEST AND SELF-PITY
Although pride is a self-expansive vice, it sometimes plunges people into periods of self-loathing and self-pity. People who think poorly of themselves, of low self-esteem, often compensate by creating an imaginary self, an “ideal self” that is believed to possess similar prized attributes such as brilliance, beauty, skill, or virtue. Individuals naturally seek to create an ideal self that they themselves are believable. A normal girl, for example, will be more likely to imagine herself as an unrecognized genius or saint than a beauty. Whatever the precise character of the idealized self, its purpose is always the same: to bolster a fragile self-esteem. However, no matter how strongly a person identifies with their idealized self, reality has a way of marring fantasy. A “saint” can be caught in a lie. Failure to measure up to the idealized self can sometimes cause a person’s psychological defenses to collapse. This will then go from grandiosity to self-loathing and self-pity. To regain her self-esteem, the proud person will try to excuse her failure by claiming that success was impossible due to some circumstance beyond her control: the failure didn’t really “count.” When face-saving excuses present the self as a victim, pride expresses itself as self-pity. Self-pity often leads to depression. The depression will tend to persist because it serves a strategy to save the pride that the individual is reluctant to acknowledge or surrender. Self-pity is pride’s response to suffering. The prophet Jonah felt sorry for himself when God showed mercy to sinners (Jonah 4:1-3).
3. PRIDE DESTROYS COMMUNITY
The community consists of people who live with each other interdependently and with mutual interest. Individuals in a crowd may share nothing more than proximity, but individuals in a community have “the same care for one another” (1 Cor. 12:25). The proud, however, are too self-absorbed to empathize with other people. They tend to see others not as independent persons of value, but as extensions of themselves. So don’t think about asserting your wishes against the legitimate needs of family and friends. The conflict occurs. Resentments and recriminations stir on all sides. The proud are too competitive to live in peace with others. By looking for the first place, they promote fights, resentments, envy and defamation. We see this in the Corinthian church. Pride had inspired the Corinthians to form cliques around various leaders; and these cliques vied with each other for control and prestige. The proud show contempt for those they consider their inferiors. Jesus unmasked a religious form of this attitude when he aimed a parable at those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked upon others with contempt” (Luke 18:9-14). A person who possesses more wealth, power, status social status, physical attractiveness, and intelligence that other people may believe these entitle you to a special privilege, or that you are exempt from behaving with respect and empathy toward others May cause you to despise weakness and be indifferent to the human needs of others Others. The proud also chafe under the legitimate authority without which no community can survive. Remember the episode of the rebellion of the proud when Aaron and Miriam – brother and sister of Moses – accused their younger brother of arrogating too much power to himself “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? They demanded. “Has he not also spoken through us? (Numbers 12:2). Also, in another episode 250 leaders of Israel rose up to challenge Moses; “The whole congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst,” they said. “Then why do you exalt yourself above the assembly of the Lord? (Numbers 16:3). In both cases, the integrity of the community was threatened, not by the supposed pride of Moses, who was “very humble,” but by the pride of subordinates who resented legitimate authority.
4. PRIDE TURNS AWAY FROM GOD
Knowingly or not, the proud are alienated from God. “Pride is self-devotion, self-righteousness, and self-glorification in contempt for God.” This contempt can lead to open revolt, but not always. It is normally expressed as “dislike” a God. The proud person finds the existence of God “an unhealthy intrusion into his life uncomfortable, irritating, and hopelessly confined.” “having his understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in him, because of the blindness of his heart” (Ephesians 4:18. It is the essence of man’s pride to assume that he is self-sufficient and that by his efforts and skills he can take care of himself, order his affairs, do for himself everything he has to do The serpent that tempted Adam and Eve promised: “You will be as gods” (Genesis 3:5). putting ourselves where God should be: at the center of things, ignoring our creatureliness and finitude as if we were self-made and self-sufficient, and asserting our independence and sovereignty This kind of self-assertion is incompatible with a true knowledge of God. how He approves of them and considers them much better than ordinary people.
5. PRIDE BEGETS A PRAYERLESS LIFE
Once Solomon completed the Temple, the Lord instructed Israel on the proper way to approach Him in times of judgment. If the heavens withheld rain because of their sins, or disobedience caused God to send a pestilence to his people, then they should pray towards the house of the Lord. But even before they pray, turn from their evil ways, or seek the face of God, they need to humble themselves first (2 Chr.7:14). God required the people who were called by his name to humble themselves before praying or repenting. Humility precedes prayer because there can be no true prayer without humility. Proverbs speaks of the man who brazenly turns his ear away from the law, “Even his prayer will be an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9). The lack of a truly humble prayer is the first sign of pride. It has been said, “The power of God will never fall until we do.” Proud people don’t pray. In fact, the only people who pray are those who need God, and they cannot go on without God. Humility is the altar on which God wants us to offer sacrifices.
6. PRIDE BRINGS CONFLICT
Why are there so many fragmented relationships, so many broken marriages, and so many divisions in the church? Scripture gives us the short answer, “Only through pride comes strife” (Proverbs 13:10). Just as pride erects a barrier between us and God, it also builds a wall between us and others. While love seeks to build a bridge, pride seeks to erect a wall. Pride can prevent you from apologizing when you’ve been wrong. Pride can make you stand up for yourself. Pride can make you look down on others. If you allow it, pride can rob you of life’s most precious relationships. “He who has a proud heart provokes conflict” (Proverbs 28:25).
Humiliating ourselves is the only way to remove the roof towards God and the walls towards our neighbor. Once offenses have been committed, whether intentional or not, they must be dealt with. “I was wrong, I’m sorry, will you forgive me?” These are healing words that only a humble soul will use. When you find a man willing to humble himself before God and man, you have found a man who will be exalted, because “humility is before…