"For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing,
he deceiveth himself."
(Galatians 6:3)
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
(Proverbs 16:18)
Quite a few years ago now, I penned the little poem which follows. Whilst certainly intended to raise a smile, the underlying intent was serious indeed: to highlight the absolute folly of our taking pride in a self-congratulatory and self-satisfying, but absolutely illusory righteousness.
* * * * * * *
THE SOBERING STORY OF DANIEL DAVIES
One Daniel Davies, 'Chief Deacon' at Zion,
To show lesser mortals his holiness, planned
To spend a whole night in the den of a lion,
Emerging next day with it licking his hand!
"See sense!" his friends pleaded, "Dan, this could get ugly -
At least take a cudgel," they begged, "or a pistol!"
But Daniel Davies declined, smiling smugly,
And caught the 12.40 from Cardiff to Bristol.
"A deacon must do what a deacon must do!"
The beat of the wheels of the train seemed to echo;
From Temple Meads Station he made for the zoo,
And straight to the lion-house went for a decko.
That night, the soft moonlight saw Daniel stand
Within the den's walls, of all caution bereft.
Next morning, the lion WAS licking his hand...
The only thing was, it was all that was left!
* * * * * * *
Pride is a pitfall. A snare which, although every single one of us is all too prone to fall into in some way or other, so few it would seem are prepared to even acknowledge its deadly presence, never mind be open to do something about it! All self-deception has pride at its core. It's what makes us so adamant that we are profoundly right when in actuality we are profoundly wrong. All resistance to correction of error has its roots - and its full flowering - in pride, the total disinclination to "lose face." Pride is always the promotion of self with the relegation of others, and is the sanctimonious suppression of the modesty with which we should be marked as the people of God that we (proudly, perhaps?) claim to be.
PRIDE is both a word and a worldview which has 'I' as its centre! It deafens us to our need to decrease that the Lord might have increase; it blinds us to our helpless dependence on Him; it tells us in our weakness that we are strong; it kids us that in our foolishness we are wise; it panders to an unfortunate thirst for pre-eminence over our fellows; it makes us feel foremost in word or in deed or in both. It is the great pretender, the ever ready contender against grace. It wantonly tramples upon the fruit of the Spirit. It's the face of fabricated righteousness, of obstinacy and obtuseness. It is, if we might somehow muster enough honesty to admit it, a systematic self-strangulation of what should be our flesh-subjugating, Godly humility!
How are we so incredibly eager to emulate the antichrist ego of the Enemy of our souls? How have we so wretchedly forgotten that Lucifer became Satan through the exercising of pride? Just how can these things be so? Is it not perhaps because we routinely refuse to let go of any soul-flattering feelings of worthiness that warm the cockles of our heart, that very heart which we should know only too well "is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked?" (Jeremiah 17:9).
PRIDE and its soulmate SIN could perhaps be seen as a pair of bookends, holding up our self-serving voluminous treasury of self-righteousness and self-delusion. Can we - dare we? - individually and collectively take a big hammer to these ghastly twin props to all ungodliness? For if we do, then maybe, just maybe, in their smashing we can come to truly discover the fulness of the freedom that is in Christ. And in finding this most precious but rarely unearthed of Heavenly jewels, we might then live for Him and His glory rather than for ourselves... and our vainglorious, self-centred pretentiousness!
Let us all, dear friends, constantly and with a brutal honesty, examine ourselves for the toxic contamination that is pride, and diligently rid ourselves of any such pollution as may have entered us. One Day the faithful in Christ are to reign with Him in His Millennial Kingdom, are they not? But, in this very context, let us remember that it is very clearly written - in both Psalm 37:11 and Matthew 5:5 - that it is the meek, and not the proud, who shall inherit the earth!
"For 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."
(1 John 2:16)
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
(1 Peter 5:8)
