Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV) Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Pride can take on so many forms. It’s not always as obvious as the stereotypes that most of us think of. You know… the arrogant, cocky individual that nobody likes to be around because they think they’re better than everyone else.
If it was always that easy to spot in ourselves, we’d be much more likely to stop it in its tracks and do something about it.
But pride can be so subtle that we might not see it until we actually fall and start looking into why we fell.
Only then will we be open to God showing us where we were prideful. Only then will we listen to the Holy Spirit when He shows us our mistakes and our faults.
But here’s the good news. We don’t have to wait until we take a tumble to check ourselves and ask God to show us who we really are. We can ask Him today, right now, where and how we are prideful, arrogant, cocky or haughty.
And sometimes He will show us when we’re not even asking Him to. The key is that we have to listen to Him. Let me share a little story about how God spoke to me about pride a few years ago. I’ll try to keep it short!
We had been visiting with some friends and they invited us out to lunch. We accepted the invitation and enjoyed lunch and fellowship with them and several other people at a large table.
When everyone was almost done eating, I got up from the table, found the waitress and told her that we (Pastor Ellie and I) wanted to pay for everyone’s meal. I went ahead and paid the tab and walked back to the table.
A short time later, the waitress came by the table and the person who invited us to go with them asked her for the check. She then told him that it was all paid for and then pointed to me. Of course they were surprised and thankful that we had done this, but they had expected to pay for us.
A short time later, we all left and went our own way. As we drove home I very clearly heard a word pop up in my spirit. I didn’t know what the word meant, but I knew that it was God speaking to me and that He was trying to teach me something.
When we got home, I looked the word up and what I suspected was confirmed. The word referred to a specific type of pride or arrogance. God was showing me that we were being prideful by paying for everyone’s lunch. He also showed me that what we did was hurtful to the person who had invited us out.
To this day, I don’t remember what that one word was that God spoke to me. I know it was God, beyond any doubt.
So, you see, pride can take on many different forms, even disguised as generosity. So always listen when God speaks to you, because you never know when He will speak or how He will speak.
But He does speak to us!
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808
401-315-0902
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