Pride comes before a fall.
Have you ever done something terribly wrong because of pride? Did a faint whisper say: “Stop! Don’t do that?” Did the threat of shame make your cheeks burn? But. The skeletal grip of pride tightened like a boa constrictor every time you thought of coming clean. So you continued in your wrong.
Pride Is a Plague in Our Nation
We see this morality play every day on the news: Gov. Rick Snyder and the government officials of Flint, Michigan, knowingly poisoned an entire city as a grid-locked Congress fails to prevent the continuous poisoning of these Americans. Throughout the US, congressmen, governors, mayors, policemen, judges, teachers, neighbors grasp unendingly and viciously for self interests. There is no end to their thirst for power over, and exploitation of, the vulnerable. An oligarchical orgy of greed and murder places innumerable stains upon the souls of nations. All because of pride.
Pride Comes Before a Fall
This spiral of spiritual death happens when humility is absent. People anesthetize themselves into thinking “everything is alright” because things look good, when in fact, they are living, breathing in, and exuding spiritual decay. They think they’re safe, because they think no one is looking. But God is watching. Life-long habits of civility and manners are not strong enough to hold a life together, when it’s centered on protecting its own interests at all costs, because civility does not have the cleansing power of righteousness. Trusting in civility to make our lives livable, or at least look like it is, is one of the last breaths of pride. And pride comes before a fall.
Pride Hinders Prayer
Pride hinders prayer.
Yet, people cling to their pride despite its destructiveness. But eventually, the debris generated by a life lived without humility accumulates to the point where the desire to breathe and live free halts the steps of greed. Some, because of pain, eventually cry out: “Oh my God!”
But. God does not hear a cry carried on the blackened wings of pride. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) says:
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
So forgiveness comes when prayer for help erupts from the humbled heart determined to change. Friend, is everything well with you, or are you trusting in appearances and civility to keep you looking like you’re doing well? It’s not what others think of you. What matters is what God thinks about you. Does the mantle of humility rest on you today?
Until next time: Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!
Your friend in Christ,
Verneda
