https://odb.org/2024/02/08/brought-low
It is ancient wisdom written in Proverbs 29:23 that pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honour. We are proud of ourselves when we achieve something significant or reach a milestone in our lives like we bought a nice car or a new house or a good guitar or the latest camera. Or our first worship leading session in church. Or a promotion at our workplace. Or we achieved our first RM100,000 savings. There is nothing wrong with being proud of ourselves. I’m sure that the Lord is also proud of us and happy for us as we reach our life milestones, especially in spiritual maturity.
The human tendency is, however, to tell of our own achievements as sometimes achieving something without anyone knowing may not be sufficient for some of us. I think close friends and family knowing should be good enough. But some of us need to broadcast to the world to proclaim our various successes. With social media, this becomes easier nowadays. We don’t need someone else (like the press, radio, or TV) to trumpet our achievements. We could do it ourselves. Just take a picture and post it on Instagram and Facebook, and everyone knows about our promotion, our spanking new premium car, our expensive gourmet food experience, or our travels to exotic lands, especially so if we travelled business or first class. Sometimes, we take pride in the extravagance to show the world we could afford such luxuries.
I always remember the ring in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. The ring that possesses us and causes us to lose our heads and drown in our successes. It ultimately leads us to destruction. That’s the real amd present danger of pride. Did Jesus turn stone to bread as challenged by the Devil? Did He like Adam and Eve thought that He could be better than the Father?
I think the greatest danger of pride is that we may end up thinking that we are so good already that we don’t need God anymore. We are our own man. God is irrelevant and inconsequential. This can happen even to great ministers of God, although perhaps in more subtle ways. The bottom line is to give all glory and honour to the King as it is He who brought us out of the miry clay and place us on the rock of salvation, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Be confident, be bold, and be courageous. Yes, because the Lord is with us. Not because of our wealth, position, status, or achievements in the world or ministry. Ancient wisdom is that the LORD hates the haughty. Do we want to be on His side, or do we want Him to be against us?
Ronnie's Thoughts 