Today's message might possibly be the most important message I could ever share with Christian men.
Proverbs 16: 5 “The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: they will not go unpunished.” Think about those words. Then James 4:6 tells us, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” The Greek word for opposed there means “to be at war with.” Now who in the world wants to be at war with God?
There are two types of pride. The first is what you would call good, like taking pride in your work and striving for excellence in your life. The Bible is talking about the second type of pride, which is arrogance. We can easily see arrogance in the lives of others, but it's so difficult to spot it in our own lives. I have to stop, step back and ask myself, could could this be true in my life?
Tim Keller says that pride is the carbon monoxide of sin. Pride silently and slowly kills you without you even knowing it.
If arrogant pride is the utmost evil, and yet we have a hard time seeing our own lives, should this concern us? I think the answer is yes. I'd like to share several good applications that you can apply to your own life, starting today. I believe we should be praying every day, “Lord, show me the pride in my life. Help me to see it. Help me to see what is true of my own heart.”