Bible Reading: Jeremiah 50: Hebrews 8
“Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of host: for thy days is come, the time that I will visit thee.” Jeremiah 50:31 (KJV)
Pride is Satan’s major instrument of destruction. Pride is a product of a depraved mind that lack understanding of what life is all about. Pride is an offspring of complex which produces negative consequences. God hates the proud and abhors pride. In our focal scriptures of today God was literally speaking to Babylon but with a deep spiritual message to all humanity. We learn from example. God used the Babylonians to discipline Judah and Israel. Their conquest and victory became their undoing as they began to act excessively with pride. We remember what pride did to Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon whom God turned him into a beast for seven years eating grass (see Daniel 4). He was the symbol of the proud Babylon. Pride attracts failure, shame and debasement. The bible says in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, And an haughty spirit before a fall”. In another place the bible says “When pride cometh, then cometh shame” Proverbs 11:2a(KJV). The scriptures further said in Proverbs 29:23(KJV), “A man’s pride shall bring him low: But honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” Pride is a negative vibe we must avoid as Christians seeing that it is capable of bringing us into enmity with God. God hates the proud in heart as stated in Proverbs 16:5a(KJV), “Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD:”
Despite the negative vibe of pride, it has taken the podium in our today’s fellowship. Church leaders have allowed some element of pride to eat into them as they enjoy the euphoria of human praise and worship for what God has done and is doing through them. God will not share His glory with any man. Those God raised from grass to grace have become too proud to associate with those they classify as ‘below my standard’. Men of God that God picked from the gutter has become so popular and rich that their members can no longer see them for spiritual nourishment. They now dine and associate with the rich and mighty. They are now heavily guarded to prevent the poor from reaching them. Where is the humility and love that Christ exemplified? How many security men guarded Christ during His earthly ministry? Pride is divisive and oppressive. A victim of pride surrounds himself with sycophants, hence he can never get objective and reasonable advice. Men of God fix program foe 8am and stroll into the assembly hall to seat on their exalted chair by 10am. Pride hardly consider others feeling.
The body of Christ need to thoroughly review our attitude to life in order to detect any element of pride in us and cast it out from among us. A true knowledge of God and His word will leave a man humble before God and man.
The cure to pride is a genuine surrender to Jesus Christ who paid the price of our sin at the Cross of Calvary. Though He was rich He humbled Himself and became poor, so that we might through His poverty become rich. Come to Christ today and be saved.
Prayer: Father, I submit myself to Your Lordship over my life and reveal in me the spirit of humility.
Bro. Joel Ezeugo