Pride goes before destruction, A haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
“Pride is the root of all evil,” so some have declared. Pride led Adam and Eve to make bad decisions. Pride led the people of Babel to choose the wrong direction. Pride has been the detrimental cause of many a fall.
Pride puffs up the chest. Pride seeks to be the center of attraction. Pride wants to be the focus of every gathering and the source of all attention. In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. (Psalm 10:4) When pride comes, then comes disgrace. (Proverbs 11:2)
This verse leads to another problem with pride. There is a kindred emotion to pride that can so devastate you that recovery can become impossible. Once you have flexed your muscle of pride you can fall into the emotion of shame. When pride begins its destruction, shame follows closely behind.
Shame will cause you to hide from God. Adam and Eve felt the need to hide in the Garden and could have lived in shame for the rest of their lives. God was not willing to let them live in their shame and he came to them with a new way for living that included moving from the Garden.
When the fall occurs because of pride you have the tendency to avoid. The erring husband avoids going home. The worker avoids going to work. The offender avoids facing the questions from his constituents. The Christian might even avoid the only help that is available to him. He will avoid the church.
I have found that church people are the most forgiving of all the people in our world. We are taught to say “But there for the grace of God, go I.” We understand that we are forgiven to forgive.
When pride seeks to destroy don’t let shame keep you down. When a haughty spirit causes you to fall, let Jesus help you up.