Few sins are as sneaky
and difficult to detect as pride.
I want to talk about just that and the sin of pride
in the Bible. There is a pride that is almost celebrated.
We must be aware of it and how God defines it.
My previous GodsyGirl post was about the challenges of life that seemed to be consuming me in this current season. I say “seemed” because we know as Christian women that we are actually overcomers even when life seems to be gobbling us up like Pacman manically munching on those digital dots – not unlike me devouring a bag of Doritos while watching old 70s sitcoms on Pluto. Seriously, I was drowning in life stress, and I felt so alone in it all.
The sin of pride in the Bible could have tripped me up as I was feeling so alone and abandoned. You know what kind of pride I’m talking about. If not, check out the sermon at the end of this post.
Notice I said I “felt” alone.
Ahhh feelings. Woah Woah those stupid feelings.
As you know, feelings lie to us and present an often-false reality. The sad part is we usually don’t express those feelings so that false reality can seem like it is true. No good.
Hey, I understand everyone doesn’t have a Christian women’s lifestyle blog as I do. I’m fortunate to have this medium to express myself but also to encourage people who may feel like I do at any given moment.
Sure, I’ll talk about hair, make-up, and other stuff here from time to time.
But please understand this medium is my feeble endeavor to give hope to women who may be going through hard times and need a little bit of inspiration as they do.
Back to my previous Christian lifestyle blog post…
As mentioned, in my previous post, I expressed terribly alone I was feeling in my current life trial.
Oh, it was true. I felt I was sinking into burning quicksand with no one dangling a life-saving rope to pull me out. I was going under.
Have you ever felt that way, Christian Woman? Have you ever felt overcome or defeated in a hardship? Have you ever felt as though God’s word – while true- was falling short in your own personal nightmare?
What a horrible state to be in.
Even more horrible is so many women pretend to always have everything together. As a result, when life’s pangs devastate them – as happens to all of us from time to time -they are not honest enough to express what they’re going through.
I’m guilty of it myself! As a pastor’s wife, people typically come to me for encouragement, advice, and help. What does it mean for them if I feel desolate or hopeless myself?
I tell you what it means.
It means that I am a human!
It means that hard times find me just as they find everyone else. It also means that pride cannot take root in my heart. I’m talking about the sort of pride that wants to present an always perfect image. This Christian walk is not the Real Housewives of the Kingdom! It’s a faith walk with good times, but also with hard times.
So, why walk around like you’re absolved from life’s battles? God forbid and shame on us if we ever fall into the need to present such an image. It is not Godly and it is prideful. It’s the sort of sin of pride in the Bible. That type of pride never ends well – ask Saul for example!
I want to be like the men and women of the Bible. They always had problems and they didn’t hide it! I’m not going to hide it either! I will not let the sin of pride in the Bible infect me.
Number one: May the world understand how much I need Jesus!
God forbid (gee, I’m saying that a lot 🙂 I ever get so arrogant and obsessed with some sort of perfect image that I can’t say – or realize -how much I need God and His people.
May I be genuinely humble enough to say, “I’m going through a hard time and I am drowning in it!”
Who cares about an image?
Who cares about what other people think?
Look, Christian Lady, I am no one from nowhere and everyone must know that so God can get the glory out of my entire life. I, myself, must remember that too to maintain a proper perspective of who I am…and who I am not!
Pride is a wicked, sneaky thing. It manifests in so many ways. Preserving one’s image is at the very heart of pride.
It is OK to not be OK. I heard someone say that on television this morning and I think it is so true for Christians to understand that.
Number two: May the world know how much we [Christians] need one another!
Another way pride pops up is in us not being willing to accept help.
As a black woman, I struggle with this one. For so many years we have heard pride associated with our culture. Being a proud black woman often is associated with not needing help. How faulty this is and how difficult it is to sometimes deprogram ourselves from this misnomer.
While it sounds noble, this is one of the most dangerous manifestations of pride and I am been guilty of it.
Very often, when offered help, I decline it. I always feel I should be able to handle anything that comes my way. As I type this, I realize how stupid that is. God created us to need one another. His provision and love often come through other people. It is a horrible trick of the enemy to block the blessings, support, and help that may come from human beings on this side of heaven.
What I want you to know and remember about this sin of pride in the Bible.
As you go through life, please do not hold in or hide your struggles.
Suffering in silence is ill-advised.
No honor exists in doing it.
It is a deception of the enemy.
As I write this, a very famous and seemingly happy person took his own life. He suffered in silence I’ll bet.
Please, do not let yourself do that. If you’re struggling, say so.
You may find that people you had no clue cared about you actually do! You may be shocked by how quickly they will step in and step up for you.
One of my tribes …
I am immensely blessed to be part of a sisterhood of women at my church. These women have shown up for one another time and time again.
We all share similar journeys because we are married to ministers.
When I agreed to lead this ministry, it was incredibly important to me that we become extensions of God’s love for one another. Nothing else really mattered.
I could care less about sitting in the same place to be “seen”, wearing similar colors on special days, or anything else cliquish.
My prayer was that God would create a microcosm of His kingdom among these women and He did. After my previous post, so many of them stepped in and stepped up to encourage and support me.
I was overwhelmed by phone calls, texts, and a card I will forever keep in my Bible because the words were so powerful and poignant.
All this manifested because they knew about my struggle. I did not hide it from them.
Please do not hide yours either. God has a way of walking around in flesh and blood and providing everything you need from encouragement to earthly provisions. However, it may NOT happen if you opt to suffer in silence.
And sharing that you need help, you will also gain experiences and spiritual strength that can help you be more effective in the kingdom.
Life had been too good!
For the last several years my life has been hunky-dory. Sure, I’ve had small challenges, but nothing earth-shattering. This current season has provided earth-shattering turmoil.
I am grateful for it though. Despite being very hard, the struggles are humbling me. They are teaching me to rely on God as He manifests Himself in new and mind-blowing ways.
Without these devastatingly hard times, I wouldn’t be able to experience Him as God Almighty, or God my banner, or Jehovah Jireh – God my Provider!
As David said in Psalms 119:71, “it was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”
It is good for me too.
The struggles are training me. They are equipping me and like a Holy Ghost gym, they are strengthening me. Just think, if an oyster never had that piece of sand, there would be no pearls! Selah. Think about that. Don’t get discouraged with your “piece of sand.”
Hey, thank you so much for reading.
I pray God blesses you as you go through your own challenges and trials. I pray that you openly share them with those in your life so you can get the support you need and minister to those who are “yet to come” into your life or yet to go through a journey such as yours.
I love you, Christian Sister!
Bible Scriptures about pride and Godly humility
The wicked sin of pride in the Bible is very copiously mentioned in the Word.
Here are some ideas you can do with these scriptures: put these scriptures in your calendar to pop up on random dates. Or memorize them. Journal about them. You can even just highlight them in your Bible to grab your attention in the future.
Psalm 131:1
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, disgrace follows,
but with humility comes wisdom.
Jeremiah 49:16
“The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks, who occupy the heights of the hill. Though you build your nest as high as the eagle’s, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.”
James 4:6
“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:5
“Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
Luke 14:11
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Proverbs 16:2
“All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.”
Proverbs 21:2
“All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.”
It may seem ok to hide your pain, Girl, but don’t.
Proverbs 13:10
Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
Isaiah 2:12
The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled),
Isaiah 23:9
The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring down her pride in all her splendor and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 18:12
Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
Note: do you think it is a coincidence that so many scriptures about pride are found in Proverbs – the book of wisdom?
Maybe humility is at the very heart of wisdom, right? In being humble, we are teachable. Humility is part of the strength to say “Help!”. The proud would never do that.
Deuteronomy 8:2-3
2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Colossians 3:12–13
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, …
2 Chronicles 7:13–15
When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
Romans 12:3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Psalm 149:4
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.
1 Corinthians 1:28-29
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
Philippians 2:8
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
A FANTASTIC Sermon on Pride
Don’t be the frog in the story. 🙂
