Sins of the World - The Pride of Life

The third and last sin of the world that the following scripture talks about is the pride of life.

I John 2:16 - For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.

Buckle up and hold on tight because we are going for a ride with this one....

The pride of life is a vain craving for honor and applause, or the stubborn mindset that will not allow someone to repent or confess their sin.

Webster’s dictionary defines pride this way: an unduly high opinion of oneself; exaggerated self-esteem, conceit, haughty behavior resulting from this, arrogance.

A vain craving for honor and applause.... stubborn mindset.... unduly high opinion of oneself. Pride, the ugly thing that we fight continually in ourselves. It is pride that keeps us from repenting many times, especially if it is a public sin. It is also the thing that brings many people down and keeps many from the kingdom of God. It is the stubborn mindset that says "I don't need a Savior I can do it on my own, I will save myself" This stubborn mindset that refuses to submit and bow a knee to the creator, is the mindset that damns a man to hell.

Satan loves to get a hold of us with this sin. Personally if he could take us down by any sin, I believe he would choose pride. This is only my opinion but the reason I believe this is because it was pride that brought his fall. Pride is the reason he was thrown out of heaven and what better revenge than to take Gods people in the same way. He used it in the beginning on Adam and Eve and he uses it on us today. In the same way that he fell by wanting to be God he told Eve she could be God also. He tells us this too, we can be our own God. He is wrong; we can not be our own God, its pride talking when we think we can.

We are enticed by this every day.... Be your own God, do it on your own..... Because of the fall we do have a part in us that if we function in our fleshly self, we want the honor and applause of others. We begin to think too highly of ourselves. We become self absorbed and live in the mindset "It's all about me". The society around us has been feeding us this mantra for years. Tap into your inner self and fill yourself with your needs. I...I...I... Me...Me...Me.... IT’S ALL ABOUT ME, MY NEEDS, MY WANTS, WHAT ABOUT ME?

Test yourself. Are you self absorbed? Do you ever feel important when you are surrounded by those you deem important? Or maybe when someone important notices you? We want others to bow down to us and see us as important, so we seek approval of those we think are important. If they think we are important, we then are lifted up. But Jesus says the opposite, if we bow down in humility, we then are lifted up. It is not by others bowing down to us and thinking we are important that we are lifted up but the opposite.

What about self-loathing? It is another form of self absorption and not a sign of humility. Do you make the statements that begin with "I"? I am a loser, I am horrible, I am ugly, I am to fat, I don't worship like I should, I am not worthy..... If you do then it is still about you. There is nothing like priding yourself on hating yourself. It is still a form of pride.

We must purge ourselves of the pride of life by drenching ourselves in the word, the spirit and prayer. The word is our sword against the evil one and we must know it to be able to use it. The spirit gives us the power to fight if we stay prayed up.

Proverbs 11:2 - When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 13: 10 - By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom.

Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

We all have a need for significance, it’s a need built into us. But we must find our significance in the arms of the Father not in ourselves. Save yourself from the shame, strife and eventual fall of pride and lay it down in repentance today.