THE SIN OF PRIDE

Proverbs 21:4 (NIV)

[4] Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin!

Someone who is haughty is arrogant and full of pride. When you're haughty, you have a big attitude and act like you're better than other people.  A haughty person acts superior and looks down on others.  (Taken from vocabulary.com)

Pride is the lamp of the wicked. It’s the light that shines on the world when they look at life and at others. It’s the very foundation of their heart, what fuels their motives and desires.

Pride resides in all of our hearts.  It’s the very essence of “self”.  We are all told to love ourselves.  It is true that there are some who are more haughty than others, who show it and express it.  But all of us have pride.  And for many of us we try to hide it in our eyes, but it resides in our heart.

A haughty person is someone who shows it, who reveals it, through his words, his life, his attitude.  But pride can be secret.  There are many of us who secretly look down at others.  In fact, we look down at people who look down at us.  All of us are proud.  For some it is more evident in their haughtiness.

What this proverb reveals is that it is SIN.  Pride is sin against God.  Why?  Because it exalts self above God.  We take this for granted, don’t we?  How natural it is for us to be full of self, to defend our self, to love our self, that we don’t see it as SIN.  But it is.  

There are so many who will not admit they are “sinners” because they are “good”. They will tell you that they haven’t killed anyone, murdered anyone, stolen from anyone.  But none of us can escape this sin of pride.  

There are a number of ways to describe how Adam sinned against God.  One of them is pride.  They thought of themselves.  He did what they felt was good for himself, what they believed was beneficial for him, above what God had commanded him.  And so he disobeyed.

That’s how pride became sin.  This is how pride is sin in our hearts.  We are sinners basically because we have put our self above God.  This is why we need a Savior.  Because sin cannot exist with God, here on earth or in eternity.

Proverbs 16:5 (NIV)

[5] The LORD detests all the proud of heart.  Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

The wages of sin is death.  Our living for ourselves, and not for God, is sin, and its penalty is death.  Jesus’ death on the cross paid that price for us.  He died instead of us.  But this is not automatically applied to all.  You have to believe.  You have to believe that He came exactly for that reason - to die in stead of you, that your sin may be paid for, atoned for.

And when you believe, His life is given to you, His righteousness.  We are now enabled to live the life He wants us to live.  We are given a righteousness that comes from God, and a righteousness that lives for God, and glorifies Him.  This is the life that destroys pride.

This is why a major dealing in the heart of Christians is with our pride.  Because it is not our self that is to be exalted, but God.  This is what true humility is.  Humility is simply turning away from our self and turning to God - for everything.  And just like pride is in our eyes and in our heart - we are to be humble with our eyes, how we see life and others;  and we are to be humble in heart, a heart where God is continually humbling us, turning our hearts to Him and away from self.  Humility becomes the lamp of the righteous in Christ.

Have we come to Christ as our Savior, trusting in Him to save us from our sins, from our self?

As believers of Christ, are we submitting to the working of God in our hearts to live for Him, His ways, and not according to self?  Is Humility the lamp of our life?  Do we have humble eyes?  Is God working humility in our hearts?

Or is pride still the lamp that shines in us?