THE WARNINGS- Part 2
How aware are you of your pride?
Verse of the Day
‘You have been deceived by the fear you inspire in others and by your own pride. You live in a rock fortress and control the mountain heights. But even if you make your nest among the peaks with the eagles, I will bring you crashing down,” says the Lord .’
‘You have been deceived by your own pride because you live in a rock fortress and make your home high in the mountains. ‘Who can ever reach us way up here?’ you ask boastfully.’
Today’s Devotional
We are being deceived by our pride. And we don’t even know it’s happening. But…how is that possible?
There was a time in my life that I was afraid to seek help for a problem because my pride could not handle it. I was embarrassed about my problem. I didn’t want anyone to know about my struggle. I thought I could fix it on my own without seeking any outside help. My pride deceived me. I could not fix this problem. But my pride convinced me to just keep trying to fix it on my own for awhile.
In smaller ways, my pride has deceived me to think that my opinion was the only right opinion. My pride has deceived me by keeping me blind to my own mistakes. My pride has led me to blame others instead of accepting responsibility for my actions. My pride has deceived me at certain times in my life to believe that my security was reflected by my bank balance. My pride has deceived me by pointing out ways I am different from others instead of being able to see the similarities.
Sometimes, my pride tells me that I am doing a good job at something all by myself. My pride conveniently ignores God’s contribution to the things I have accomplished.
My pride likes to tell me that my emotions make me weak. My pride whispers that vulnerability will make other people think less of me. My pride loves to tell me that I must do things in order to impress people.
My pride is a liar. And many times I am completely deceived and cannot see the truth of my pride.
Pride’s job is to keep me self-focused. As long as I am focused on myself, then I’m not focused on the Kingdom. The following excerpt is from wisdomhunters.com:
“Pride is deceived; it walks in deception, believing things that are untrue. It thinks it is in control and is responsible for its own accomplishments. Pride has an inflated belief in itself and a condescending attitude toward others. It is all wrapped up in its own agenda. A prideful man may even mouth the right words, but his behavior betrays him. Pride is a product of unaccountable living. Without checks and balances, pride develops a track record of deception that leads to defeat. Pride’s greatest deception is to set itself up against God. You can go through the motions of religious activity without brokenness and obedience; that is the epitome of pride.”
How, then, can I see the deception of pride in my life? I need help to see the lies. John 9:39 tells me that Jesus offers me that help. ‘Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”’ Jesus was not talking only about physical blindness in this verse. He knows that we all suffer from areas of spiritual blindness. He knows that pride is sneaky and deceptive and that we can be absolutely blind to it without His help.
All of the warnings we read about yesterday did not include an asterisk that says: “*These warnings only apply to the pride you are aware of.” If we want to heed God’s warnings about removing our pride, we must be willing to ask for help to confront the deception of our pride. God has issued some strong warnings. And both the Old Testament and the New Testament tell us that we can be spiritually blind. Perhaps part of our heeding the warnings about pride is being willing to ask Jesus to take off our blinders. Because I can’t offer something to God to remove if I don’t even know it is there.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How aware are you of your pride?
How easily can you spot pride in others?
If you are willing, ask Jesus to help you to see your pride. Ask Him to open your eyes to any pride you might have.
Write out Psalm 139:24 and make it your prayer today: ‘Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.’