Pride is something that comes upon us by way of stealth and a sneak attack.
It comes in little snatches of a thought. The whisper of an idea. The simple notion that either some personal offense has been committed against you or sometimes even deadlier: the hint of an idea that you really are doing so much better than before.
The roots of pride come from the seeds of doubt and the promises of great gain; the seeds of pride are nefarious and evil.
They are evil because their origins are from the father of lies, the devil, who desires to turn the attention of people inward thereby averting their gaze from the heavenly Father above. Pride grows in the soil of self-contentment or self-esteem and is nourished by the two constantly flowing streams of negativity and flattery.
Pride is at times difficult to spot because it camouflages itself in cloaks of “this is what you deserve” and “you’ve worked hard for this”. Both of these cloaks contain the littlest bit of an idea of truth yet deny the power of God that speaks all truth.
“This is what you deserve” is spoken by God and Satan, but God reminds us that what we deserve is punishment whereas Satan tells us that we deserve something nice. Satan confuses and bewilders people by promising something he deems “good” as compared to what God is warning us of that is bad. Pride flourishes in this environment of “this is what you deserve” because it ignores the truth and the Word of God and instead appeals to temporal senses that are limited in ability, scope and understanding. Pride loves to appeal to the notion that “if it feels good, do it”.
“You’ve worked hard for this” is spoken by Satan and is a distortion of the truth. We may have indeed worked very hard for something and God indeed tells us that it is a gift from Him to enjoy the work of our hands, but therein is the deception: Satan intentionally omits what the “work” is that accomplishes anything. Pride thrives in places of flattery: “look how hard you have worked”. But God clearly tells us that the work we are call to is to do His will. And He further tells us that we cannot do it by ourselves. God has worked hard for us, and the work of the Christian is to receive His work, receive His words and walk with Him.
Pride sneaks up on those who do not stand guard. The sneak attack of pride is often preceded by the subtle disarming of those under attack. The disarming comes by the same whisper strategy: “everything is going so well” – “finally, life is just how you wanted it” – “you really don’t need ________ to help you, you’ve really got a handle on this”. There are a thousand other lies that the Enemy hurls at us, all to disarm us, leave us vulnerable and exposed and then he goes in for the kill with the doubt-filled, comfort and pleasure-seeking deadly allure of pride: “can I tell you why it’s your turn to get the good things of this life?”
Pastor Michael Johnson 