“ …God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble” James 4:6b. Pride is the oldest sin in the history of creation. It is the first ever thing that came to be known as a sin before God. Yes, pride is the root of sin and the greatest offense God fights. He resists the proud, not the fornicator or the murderer but the “showshow”. In Isaiah 14:12-15 we see the fall of satan. “ How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the side of the pit.”

This is someone God exalted above all the stars of heaven, made him the covering cherub of God, the most beautiful star dressed with precious stone and fine ointment (Ezekiel 28:14). You see how Satan planned to overthrow God? You see how full of himself and honour/glory hungry he was and still is? He never actually said this to anyone nor did he attempt to do what he was thinking. He only thought in his heart. Pride begins from our imagination. This was way before the creation of man, some theologians say millions of years before.

Then came the creation, in Gen 1:1-2 God created the heaven and the earth, now the gap between verse one and two contains those millions of years we just mentioned, It is between this gap that the great war took place in heaven as recorded in Rev 12 from verse 7, where Michael and his angels fought Satan and his angels, those whom he convinced to launch the rebellion after his intentions were revealed to him by God. They were defeated and cast into the earth and out of the glory of God. Then verse 2 of Gen 1 says the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep… The original Hebrew word used here is “hayeta” meaning “to become”. So invariably after satan was cast down, the earth became formless and void, the earth became dark.

Then when God decided to re-beautify his creation, the last part of verse 2 says the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And then enters verse 3 where God actually began to work. So now we can see that the first sin wasn’t Adam and Eve disobeying God, No that was the first sin of man. The first sin of the world was pride, not pride of action but pride of the heart. So what exactly is pride? Pride can be seen as a quality or state of being proud; inordinate self esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one’s own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, rank etc. It could be a disdainful behavior or treatment; insolence or arrogance of demeanor; or a haughty bearing and conduct. This is actually very negative.

This is what I refer to as the sin called pride. But pride could also mean having a sense of your worth, and abhorrence of what is beneath or unworthy of you. Depending on how far you take it, this second view of pride is not bad or negative after all. Looking at pride as that of which to be proud of; that excites boasting or self-gratulation; the occasion or ground of self esteem, a show, ostentation or glory. For example as a Christian it is very okay to say God is my pride. To boast of the things God is doing in your life. Since I gave my life to Christ my esteem has increased, there’s the inherent abhorrence of sin, or little things I consider as vexations to the spirit of God in me. I pride in the grace of God through Christ Jesus. I give God glory for every or anything that I am. That’s the good Christian pride. Now why is pride such a sin and why is God so resistant about proud people? (Here I mean the negative pride, the sinful pride)

In James 1:17 we get to understand that every good thing comes from God. And a man can receive nothing unless it is given from above. In 1 Pet 5:6 we are told to humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us in due time. This means God is not against exalting us at all, he is against us exalting ourselves. He personally exalted Lucifer. He exalted Jesus and gave him a name higher than any other that at its mention every knee must bow and every tongue confess. A name by which we are saved today. It is his good pleasure to prosper us and lift us up. If only we can get the understanding. He says unless we become like this little ones we can’t enter heaven.

Christians have to be more alert to pride than anyone, knowing how we can be destroyed by it. Pride is not the opposite of low self esteem no, it’s the opposite of humility. We are called to serve one another, How can you wash others feet if you don’t humble yourself? How can you even be righteous if you do not submit to Gods authority? John 5:44 says how can you believe when you only seek honour from each other and not from God? That’s the problem Jesus had with the religious pharisaic, they knew it all. The were so proud that they couldn’t tell that they were proud. And that is why Jesus came. To deal with this original age long sin called pride. In Matt 3:9-10 John the Baptist said to the people- And think not within yourself we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able to raise children from these stones for Abraham. And now the axe is laid unto the tree root that any tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into fire.

There! Jesus who knew no sin, humbled himself to be made sin for our sake to deal with the root of sin which the law failed to handle. The sin of pride. No doubt there was no such commandment as thou shalt not be proud, because it is so delicate and needed a higher power- The blood of the lamb of God. Drawing inspiration from the words of Beth Moore we can say Pride cheats you of your God-given destiny because you demand your own way, cheats you of the blessings of contentment because you “deserve better”, cheats you of knowledge because you already know it all, cheats you of inner healing because your too full of yourself to forgive, cheats you of holiness because you refuse to admit when you are wrong, cheats you of genuine friendship because no one will know the real you, only the proud fake is available, cheats you of love because real love demands sacrifice and your bigger than that.

Pride cheats you of greatness in heaven because you refuse to serve others here on earth, cheats you of Gods glory because you seek yours. You think pride looks out for you? No pride makes a fool of you, God has so much for you which pride will never deliver. But the good news is we can overcome pride and be free from its evil yoke if we want to. In a few steps you can turn things around for your good. First ask God to show you your pride. Psalm 139:23-24 says “ Search me o God and know my heart, try me and know my thought. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. By ourselves we cannot do it. Invite God to help you. He says its not by power or might but by his spirit. Avail yourself for God to work on you.

Secondly You must become a servant. That is, adopt an attitude of continues service, In Luke 22:26 Jesus commanded “… but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as the servant” In Matt 23 Jesus warns us against being like the scribes who love Moses seat, love the high tables in every occasion, their works they do to be seen, they love to be called Rabbi and other big titles, then he says we shouldn’t be called father or master for one is our father (God in heaven) and master (Jesus Christ). And lastly learn to submit to authority be it in the church or in society. Some people think to be a Christian is to be anti government, well not always. Remember we are adjourned to pray for those in authority too. Rom 13:1 says Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there’s no power but of God: The powers that be are ordained of God. And damnation is the reward of they that resist the high authority. To conclude let us know that “ Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall, better is it to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Prov 16:18-19 May we say this short prayer. Oh God my father, deliver me from the spirit of pride, and fill me with your humility in Jesus name- Amen! You can as well master a few scriptures concerning pride so that when ever you face the temptation you can recite them to gain consciousness of yourself and build your faith. #HundredPercentJesus

Brother Cham Formoukom
BaretaNews Contributor