Have you ever wondered how God views our social conduct and character in today’s world? I’m sure that many different answers could be given and many books have thrown their hats into the ring to explain the downsides of the human condition at this time in history. Some of these opinions state social causes. Others reflect economic causes. There’s many loud voices stating racial, governmental, political, educational and media causes. With such a broad topic in speaking to the human condition, let’s focus on the state of humanity and the social fabric within the United States to narrow our reach. The church has always been God’s primary concern, but God has also had a lot to say about nations in the Bible. Maybe the reasoning is that borders are not so much about geographical landmarks as they are a defining of collective values and morals.
I’ve found it very interesting that I’ve been led lately to read many books or chapters in the Bible that have references to earthquakes. While I don’t claim to be an expert of end time eschatology and don’t really put allot of stock in modern doom and gloom prophecies, I do believe that ‘earthquakes’ in our financial systems, economic systems, health systems, educational systems and social systems are being felt stronger and stronger. It also seems that the Bible uses the parallel of earthquakes and righteous judgment to address God’s opinion concerning many of these same systems and how humanity conducts itself within them. It shows us that God cares about the social and spiritual cultures that we create as nations.
I believe that something has tectonically shifted in American social and even church culture that tolerates and even encourages what was once just a generation ago thought of as unimaginable as cultural norms and conduct. How humanity naturally interacts and conducts itself with each other is always the effects of a deeper spiritual root cause. The root cause of which the Bible has much to say about is the degeneration or corruption of human character and conduct. There is one common denominator in human character or personal conduct that is woven all through scripture that draws God’s strong disapproval and even wrath – PRIDE. If there’s one thing that God has been dealing with me about at this time in my life, it is pride, and I don’t believe that I’m alone as God seems to deal with sin among His people in carte blanche ways. Pride is a personal battle that never ends this side of heaven. It is the cross that we all must face and if we don’t take it up and defeat it by dying to our self nature – it will certainly hinder and even destroy God’s best and purpose for our lives. God is always patient, kind, and loving. He never condemns me. But, He is certainly in my business as I write this and dealing with me and exposing my pride.
Why? Because He simply hates it, and He’s insisting that I change and deal with it! There’s a good way to deal with pride and to gain victory over it. It is to confess our sins as a starting point. Maybe confessing our sins is kind of falling out of normalcy in the church or thought of as a little outdated? Look, if we’re honest, we do a poor job of recognizing and confessing our own sins. Oftentimes, we’re far better at recognizing and pointing out the sin in others. Is there a reason for this mindset and neglect of personal confession of sin? The Bible states to “confess our sins one to another” and to “pray for one another that we may be healed.” The profound wisdom of the scriptures applies to all of us because it’s hard to stay proud when we’re recognizing and confessing our sins.
The humanist nature in all of its pretentious glory is pride. I believe that it is central to everything that God is addressing in our lives and in the church as believers in Christ. Genuine revival will never come to the church without fervent repentance from pride. On the same hand, I don’t believe it’s wise to air all of our dirty laundry to just anybody, but we do need people in our lives to whom we can confess our sins too.
Although we don’t see this much in today’s church and seems to be thought of as sort of old-fashioned, it is the key to putting to death pride in our lives before it destroys us. I encourage you to try it. Especially husbands in relationship to our wives. If there’s one thing that a husband doesn’t want to do, this is it! Yet, I’m thankful that I have a wife that I can confess my sins to and I’m likewise thankful that she’s been patient and merciful with me just like God has. My hope is that you and I will have a totally different view and understanding of the destroying affects of pride after reading this message than before. If there’s one thing that we should truly fear in the current days where fear has such a grip on humanity – it is pride.
I certainly will not claim that I’ve achieved success in overcoming pride at this point in my life, but I do understand it more clearly now and I’m on a path of victory over it through Christ.
When I survey the church – ministers and laity alike, I see manifested pride infecting many and showing the outward symptoms like a cultural virus. You see, in the church today, we can get away with pride. It’s not really considered sinful anymore and if we’re honest, its become a human quality to be emulated or even confidently admired. Could it be that many have become more socially conditioned to reflect the culture of the world, which sees humility as a weakness and pride as a strength? Many say that pride goes before the fall, but that’s not true. The Bible says that pride goes before destruction. It’s a haughty spirit that presents itself before the fall. None of us should be flirting with self-destruction because of a socially conditioned mindset. The truth is that I’m writing or speaking this to you from a place of personal experience. I’m not discussing the dangerous nature of pride as if I’ve somehow gained victory over it. I haven’t! But I am thankful that I recognize it in my life which is the first step in overcoming it. The most amazing thing in this work of God in my life at this time is His patience and long-suffering with me. Recognizing sin in our lives leads to conviction, which leads to repentance which leads to forgiveness and healing.
Our sins need not be adultery, stealing, lying, fornication, gossip, and so on. It is pride that God emphatically hates and which is so commonplace and takes up residence in so many of us. The reason why the Lord hates pride is because it leads to carnality. After all, God does possess strong feelings. Have you ever thought about God having strong feelings? The Bible presents to us very clearly what God loves and what God hates. A good example is found in the book of Malachi in which God states, “I loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” And the reason is because Esau represents the pattern of carnality so well.
The self destruction of carnality is brilliantly addressed by the writer of Hebrews saying, “Here we have no continuing city, but we look for one to come.” At any time when we begin to act, speak and live as if this world is our home and we have the mindset of worldly permanence – we are infected with carnality. Again, this deep and timely work of God in our lives doesn’t need to be a ‘big’ sin. But, God is addressing our loss of vision toward eternity which is the antithesis of carnality and not living in the consciousness of our life from an eternal perspective. God doesn’t hate us, but He does hate the carnality that is within us which is the offspring of pride. Your destiny and created purpose is at stake. Pride affects how we live and the legacy that we choose to leave behind. Pride is the killer of God’s testimonies through us and is so dangerous and destructive because we’re typically the last to know that we’ve been eaten up by it. After all, pride consumes its own mother. The thing that God genuinely hates in our lives is pride!
2 Timothy 3:1-5 says, “But know this, that in the last days perilous or stressful times will come (Why? Because humanity will collectively begin to exhibit certain personality and social traits. We need to understand that it’s humanity itself that will create perilous times and not God. Again, it will be the decline of human character and conduct. Sadly, it’s progressive in nature and can’t be stopped. Nor, can these socially collective behaviors be reversed. In other words, once corruption starts, it is irreversible. We can temporarily halt or slow down corruption, but we cannot ultimately stop or reverse it. For instance, any fruit or vegetable once separated from its vine immediately begins corruption and if you leave it that way – it’s corruption will fully manifest to rottenness. You can pick a beautiful peach, but leave for a week or two and it’s corruption and ugliness will soon become apparent. As I just stated, we can slow it down and I see the church as a type or kind of a refrigerator which has only slowed down the inevitable human condition of these particular ‘last days’ as pride becomes more infectious and prevalent. God in His love and plan of salvation didn’t reverse the course of natural corruption. He’s far too much of realist for that. But He has an eternal cure for our corruption and it’s the New Birth through Jesus Christ. The Bible says that any person that is in Christ is a new creation! The old corrupt ways have passed away and all things in our lives and nature have become new. The New Birth does not possess corruption as it is eternal in its nature and originated by God Himself. In other words, there is not a single element of corruption in the New Birth or being born again.
Continuing: “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
You have a choice today to remain in eternal corruption because of pride which is the second death. This is not the physical death of our corruptible flesh that we are all appointed to. Rather, a spiritual and eternal death outside of God’s free gift of salvation though faith in Jesus Christ. Another option is to simply hang out in the refrigerator of the church and simply be content with the conversion experience rather than becoming a disciple of Jesus. Conversion is just the beginning or the doorway. Becoming a disciple and the character of Christ-likeness is the purpose or destination of our conversion. It is the New Birth that removes the scars and rottenness of corruption. It provides us the means of victory over pride and self-love. If you don’t know Christ today, it’s probably because of pride. Please consider giving your life to Christ right now. There isn’t a better time unless pride is speaking…
dannykorakas 