Opposite of Humility

As you might have guessed the opposite of humility is pride.  The Bible has a lot to say about pride and not one thing is positive.  A quick word search on pride using Bible Gateway reveals 51 hits.  A search on the word proud had 56 hits and haughty had 18 hits.   That’s 127 places the Bible teaches about pride.  Any time God’s Word repeats something you know He wants us to understand it.  You can rest assured the topic is very important.

 

Let’s look at a few in this devotion, so we’ll know more as to why we should avoid pride.

 

Pride does evil towards others

• Psalm 10:2 NKJV “The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.”
• Psalm 59:12 NKJV “For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride, and for the cursing and lying which they speak.”
• Psalm 73:6 NKJV “Therefore pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment.”
• James 4:1 NKJV “[Pride Promotes Strife] Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?”

 

Pride brings trouble

• Proverbs 11:2 NKJV “When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.”
• Proverbs 13:10 NKJV “By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom.”
• Proverbs 16:18 NKJV “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
• Proverbs 21:24 NKJV “A proud and haughty man—“Scoffer” is his name; He acts with arrogant pride.”
• Proverbs 16:5 NKJV “Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; though they join forces, none will go unpunished.”

 

Pride causes rebellion against God

• Jeremiah 13:15 NKJV “[Pride Precedes Captivity] Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, For the LORD has spoken.”
• Jeremiah 13:17 NKJV “But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.”
• Hosea 7:10 NKJV “And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, but they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek Him for all this.”
• Amos 8:7 NKJV “The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their works.”
• Zephaniah 2:10 NKJV “This they shall have for their pride, because they have reproached and made arrogant threats against the people of the LORD of hosts.”
• Psalm 10:4 NKJV “The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.”
• Habakkuk 2:4 NKJV “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”

 

 

Reasons for removing Pride

• Isaiah 13:11 NKJV “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”

• Proverbs 8:13 NKJV “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.”
• Proverbs 29:23 NKJV “A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.”
• Isaiah 23:9 NKJV “The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to bring to dishonor the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.”
• Daniel 4:37 NKJV “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.”
• Proverbs 16:19 NKJV “Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”
• Malachi 4:1 NKJV “[The Great Day of God] “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. and the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch.”
• James 4:6 NKJV “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

 

Pride comes in many forms.  It is my sincerest desire you are able to recognize pride in your own life and confess it to God and seeks His forgiveness before it’s too late.  We as children of God should nothing to do with pride.  It’s evil.  God hates it.  It does nothing to build others up.  Nor does it help point others to God.  

 

Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into our lives and giving us the power to put down pride.  Enable us to see the pride that so easily blinds us to your truth.  By your spirit and your might teach us your ways that we may walk in them.  In your name we pray. Amen.

 

© Elizabeth Marks, author of ThinkOnIt Devotions and has a heart for encouraging others with God’s Word.  For more devotions, bible studies and a recommended book store, visit http://www.ThinkOnItDevotions.com today.