Are You
Proud to be a Christian?
If you
immediately said “Oh yes! I’m proud to be
a Christian!” then you are cursed of God, will be ashamed, shattered and
brought low, and worse…hated of God.
Psa_119:21 You have rebuked the proud who are
cursed, who go astray from Your Commandments.
Psa_119:78 Let the proud be ashamed; for they perverted my cause with
lying; I will think on Your Commandments.
Job_26:12 He quiets the sea with His power, and by His
understanding He shatters the proud.
Job_40:12 Look on everyone who
is proud,
and bring him low; and tread down the
wicked in their place.
Pro 6:16-17 These six Jehovah
hates; yea, seven are hateful to his
soul: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
“Well,
that’s the Old Testament, you say, that doesn’t count for today.”
Okay,
let’s see what the New Testament says about the proud, pride and the prideful:
Luk_1:51 He has worked power with His arm, He has
scattered the proud
in the imagination of their heart.
Rom 1:18-30
speaks about those who will come under the wrath of God. After a long list of
reprobates and sinners, comes this: “…backbiters, haters of God, insolent,
proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,”
Jas_4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says,
God resists the proud,
but He gives grace to the humble.
1Pe_5:5 Likewise, younger ones, be subject to older
ones, and all being subject to one another. Put on humility. For God resists proud ones, but He gives
grace to the humble.
Now,
that’s just a study of the word “proud”. What about “pride”?
Psa_73:6 Therefore pride enchains them; violence covers them like a robe.
Pro_8:13 The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil; I hate pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and
the wicked mouth.
Pro_11:2 Pride comes, then shame comes; but with the lowly is wisdom.
Pro_16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a
fall.
Pro_29:23 A man's pride shall bring him low; but honor shall uphold
the humble in spirit.
1Jn_2:16 because all that is
in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world.
According
to Isaiah 14, the reason Lucifer was cast out of heaven was because of pride of
saying he could become God. Then he convinces Eve that by eating of the fruit
she could be as gods (Gen 3:5).
So
pride was the first sin, and he has spent 6000 years convincing people that
pride is a good thing. Afterall, you should take pride in your accomplishments.
You should rightfully be proud of your children, your spouse, etc. Right?
Wrong.
When
God spoke from heaven after His son’s baptism, He did not say, “This is my
beloved, Son, of whom I am proud.” That’s what most Christians would say, “I’m
so proud of my kids!”
God
never identifies Himself as being proud of anything. He is always “pleased”. “This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Now, if
God hates the proud, and you say “I am proud”…you might want to learn to
express your pleasure in you and your loved one’s accomplishments in a
different way. It’s not easy. Expressing pride in something is too easy…it’s
what everyone says…but it’s not what God says.
Who are
you going to be like? God or the rest of the world?
