Pride

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

1 John 2:16 NASB

“Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.”

Proverbs 16:18 NASB

The danger is real, for me the best way to explain it is like gasoline. When we take pride in our God this is healthy pride. When we take pride in all that God has done this is a testimony, a testimony of Gods favor. Gasoline is a key tool in our every day life. Without it our cars would sit unable to provide us with valuable transportation. It is being used in the way that it is designed for.

One time when I was young my brother and cousin and I were down at our fort living the dream of Jeremiah Johnson. Hunting our own food and cooking it over a fire, every boy’s dream. But the night before it had rained and the wind was blowing so we had no luck building a fire to cook the rabbit we had taken from my grandpa’s freezer, hunting was slow that morning and we had to eat. We had the wood and the rabbit but no way to cook it. One of us had the bright idea to go get some gas to help the fire get started. So we all gathered around our fire pit blocking the wind and striking the match I took it closer to the gas saturated wood, when all of a sudden it ignited. Looking up at my brother and cousin I learned one valuable lesson gas will burn faster than you can move. We were lucky, we had lost all of our eye lashes, eye brows and about three inches of our hair line. Hair still smoking we started laughing at each other.

Although a funny story pride has the same destructive nature as gasoline. When we begin to think that we are the reason for success and not God we are playing with fire and will get burned. Pride will keep you from advancing because you think you have made it. You are no longer looking to God for guidance but making decisions based on what you think is right. DANGER DANGER DANGER!!!!! Pride goes before destruction, God gives so that all the glory goes to him. Stay humble and in a place of gratitude so that God receives all the glory not us.