These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

—Proverbs 6:16-19

Recently while a preacher was talking about training and raising children he said something that completely caught me off guard. He stated that sometimes when children act shy it is a matter of pride when it is not shyness at all. What he meant by that is a child can use the ruse of shyness to manipulate those around him and project to others that he is the most important person. At first I was skeptical of calling it pride, but then I began to think about what pride is and how it can be manifested in our lives.

[pullquote]Pride: a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.

—Dictionary.com[/pullquote]

When the Bible speaks of pride I immediately think of someone with a haughty or arrogant spirit. This is someone who is boastful or vain. But don’t miss the subtle ways that pride can conceal itself in one’s life.

Busyness

While listening to the Life of a Steward podcast recently I heard the host mention that busyness can be caused by pride. Busyness isn’t always because of pride, but that is one of the potential sources of it. It could be because you feel like you are the only one who can do a job right. No one else quite measures up. That is pride.

You might be busy because you desire for others to look at your accomplishments. Maybe your sense of value (pride) is wrapped up in how full you can cram your schedule. Or you feel superior to others when your calendar needs suspenders to hold all your appointments in place.

Pride is an attitude that God hates (Proverbs 6:16-19). Busyness, to the point of not being able to rest and honor God, leads us to exalt ourselves and ignore God’s command to take a Sabbath break. God’s people were exiled in the Babylonian captivity because of refusing to allow the land to have its Sabbath year of rest (Ezekiel 20).

Being a diligent worker and a faithful servant is not what I am talking about. God expects us to work. But when your motivation is from a sense of superiority to others, then your busyness can be a sign of pride.

I’m Not Good Enough

I recently had a dream from which I awoke irritated with my friends in the dream. [No, I don’t take my dreams as God giving me new revelation. But this dream illustrated something that I have often thought about.]

A group of friends and I were on a trip in which our bus broke down and we had to stay over a weekend in a place we had not planned. There were 20 to 25 people on this trip. A church graciously offered to let us sleep in their building. During the Sunday morning service everyone who normally sang in their choir had to be out because they were needed to serve in other aspects of the ministry.

I offered to the pastor that our group could fill his choir loft and help lead his church in worship. My friends and I were not particularly musically inclined (but neither was the choir in the church). Serving in this simple way could have been a way to thank the church for their generosity to us.

But, to my irritation, when I suggested that my group fill the choir loft they refused to do so. In the dream I lectured the 4 or 5 friends who did join me for the choir about the others in the group having a prideful spirit. I was literally preaching to the choir. The ones who were humble enough to serve received my wrath about not being a servant.

When I awoke from my dream, and after calming down from being agitated, I thought it was a good reminder to me how that I need to be willing to serve others whether I think I am good enough or not. I should serve where God gives me opportunities.

Often pride hides in the fact that we don’t feel qualified to do what God wants us to do. Isn’t that the whole story of Gideon in the book of Judges? God wanted Gideon to understand that he could not do the job by himself. He had to rely upon God. One of the main points of the story is that Gideon could not take any credit (pride) for how God worked because it was obvious that it was not Gideon who accomplished the task.

Not Trusting Others

Trusting other people is hard at times. Especially if you are someone in authority over others. If you can’t trust those around you, especially those who follow you, then you are going to be stifled in your ability to lead. I am not talking about abusing your power and authority, but sometimes it is necessary to delegate tasks to other people. Allow them to carry the load…even if that means they may fail.

Pride comes into play when you fear they will do a poor job and make you look bad. You are not concerned about the learning and growth potential of the event, you are only concerned with how you will appear to your peers or the authority over you.

Step away from your pride and help others grow.

Other Hiding Places

Pride can be hiding in plain sight in many other places. Sometimes it can be hidden in seemingly innocent attitudes. Though hard to spot at times, it is possible for someone to have a false humility that fears stepping up into leadership and authority because they enjoy sitting back and watching others fail.

Share in the comments below how you think pride can conceal itself in other traits.

Both Eve (in the Old Testament) and Jesus (in the New Testament) were tempted by Satan. The temptations were different, but Eve could have handled the temptation in the same way Christ did. However, she did not and the results were drastically different.

Eve’s Temptation

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

—Genesis 3:1-6

Jesus’ Temptation

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

—Matthew 4:3-11

How They Handled the Temptation

Let’s look at the way Jesus handled the temptation first. It gives us insight as to how the temptation should be handled in the first place.

Jesus’ Response

Jesus responded to the temptation by quoting God’s Word. Jesus knew what God had said on the subject. Of course He did, He is God. The beautiful thing is that He relied on God’s written Word–not just on what He and God privately knew. Jesus responded by quoting the revealed Word of God. He responded in exactly the same way we can to temptation.

During the first temptation Jesus responded using Deuteronomy 8:3. The second ruse of the Devil is that he tried to trick Jesus with verses from the Bible (Psalm 91:11,12). Knowing that Satan was misquoting and misusing God’s Word, Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16. During the third temptation Jesus quoted other verses from Deuteronomy (6:13,14).

Eve’s Response

The first thing Satan said to Eve was, “Did God really say that you can’t eat from every tree?” Eve responded by misquoting what God said. She was unsure of God’s Words. She said, “We can’t eat from one of the trees. We can’t even touch it! If we do, we will die.” Is that what God said? No. Her uncertainty about the absolute Word of God caused her to begin to have doubts about the truth of God’s Word.

Satan responded by mocking what God had said. Yes, God did say they would die. But now that Eve was faltering on whether God really said what she thought He had said, she was on shaky ground to know the truth. She was powerless to confront Satan because she had already started to believe a lie.

Your Response to Temptation

Jesus responded by quoting the Bible back to the tempter with authority. Jesus had absolute confidence in the Word of God and knew it perfectly. Eve was unsure about what God really said. As a result she caved to the temptation.

How well do you know God’s Word? Many times people believe lies about the Bible their whole life. They assume that something they heard in Sunday School class as a kid was true. Maybe it was taught in a simplistic manner and lost some of the details. Maybe the teacher didn’t really know what the Bible was saying. More likely than not, if the last time you actually studied the Bible was in a Sunday School class as an 8 year old, then you have probably jumbled up a few things in your own mind.

Take time to find out what the Bible really says. Study God’s Word, don’t accept everything you hear from others about the Bible. Find out for yourself it it is true.

I am often amazed at how God works in the lives of some people. They may have been heavily involved in certain sins before their salvation. But the day they got saved God took that sin out of their lives and they had victory over it immediately. When talking with them they say that they are no longer tempted by that old habit. It is amazing to see God’s power in their lives over sin.

However, we know that God does not always work that way. In fact, many of us struggle constantly with besetting sins. It seems like if we could just get victory over that sin then we would never have any problems.

Why doesn’t God work the same way in everyone’s life? When talking to those who do get immediate victory it seems like they think everyone gets the same type of victory “if they are truly saved.” Do they think I am not saved because God didn’t work the same way in my life as He did in theirs? While they would probably say “no” to that question, I have seen some who act as if that is the way they believe. God’s great grace can become a source of pride in their Christian walk.

Certainly not everyone who has had immediate victory over a sin act this way. Many give great praise and honor to God because they know God has worked in a special way in their life.

[pullquote]Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

—1 Corinthians 10:12, 13[/pullquote]

This morning the pastor in church was dealing with 1 Corinthians 10:1-14. He pointed out three great truths that we can draw from verse 13.

Common

First is that temptation is common. Your case is not unique. While we may not all be tempted in the exact same way, we all endure temptation. We must fight the sinful thought of, “God, I know what Your Word says, but my situation is special.” No, we need to simply trust God and obey Him. This great truth helps erase self-pity. God doesn’t hate you. God is not putting you through something you cannot overcome with His help. He is there right beside you.

Controlled

The second truth is that temptation is controlled. God is faithful. He will be with you through the temptation. He knows what you are going through and His goal is to bring you through it in holiness. The Bible says multiple times to be holy because God is holy. He wants us to become more like Him. He is with us each step of the way to bring out holiness in us. This truth erases our fears. Temptation itself can inspire fear, but we don’t have to be afraid because a faithful God is with us according to this verse.

Conquerable

Finally, temptation is conquerable. By His grace we have the power to overcome the temptation. Not in our own power, but through the power of Christ (Philippians 4:13). He has provided a way of escape. We don’t always see that way of escape. We begin to feel hopeless. However, when we remember a faithful God has promised to provide a way out of the temptation and testing, then this truth erases our doubts.

We should be grateful to God for the way He has worked in our lives. Whether that is an immediate conquering of sin, or a slow process of sanctification we should be thankful. Don’t take pride in the grace God has given you. Nor should you feel defeated if you don’t get that immediate victory. Remember that a faithful God knows everything that is going on in your life today.

[Adapted from a message by David Cross at Faith Baptist Church in Jefferson City, TN.]

[pullquote]And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

—Acts 14:27[/pullquote]

At the end of Acts 14 Barnabas and Paul gave an account of their first missionary journey. While I am sure they shared much from their trip the thing the Bible emphasizes is that they praised God for what He had done in opening opportunities to share the Gospel.

It must have been an easy trip. Surely they didn’t have any problems and were blessed to preach and see hundreds saved. It was an ideal mission trip. Right?

Well, no.

At the beginning of Acts 13 they were sent out by the Holy Spirit from Antioch to start their first journey. It was during this trip that John Mark left them. They did see many Jews begin to follow them in Antioch in Pisidia (Turkey) after preaching in a synagogue. However, the next week when the Gentiles gathered to hear what Paul and Barnabas had to say the formerly friendly Jews became angry. They didn’t think the Gospel should have been preached to the Gentiles. They kicked them out of their city.

The team packed up and moved on to Iconium. The Bible says many Jews and Greeks believed on the Lord. Not all believed however. The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and planned to stone the missionaries. They moved on to Lystra. Though worshiped a short time as gods, they were eventually stoned in that city.

Yes many were saved, but there were hardships as well. They retraced their steps encouraging the ones who were saved in their first visit. They returned to the church in Antioch in Syria from which they were sent.

Verse 27 is essentially their prayer letter/mission trip report. Did they focus on the problems they had? The Bible says they told what had happened, but then it finishes the verse with them telling “how He [God] opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.”

In their missionary prayer letter they focused on praise to God, not on the problems which came their way. As we share with our friends about the ministry opportunities God gives us we should focus on the praise and not the problems. Yes, there will be problems, but we should view them in light of God advancing His ministry through them.

A lady in our community is from Thailand. She recently got saved and visited our church today. She has been hungry for the Word of God, but does not read English very well. She had wondered if there was a Thai translation of the Bible.

We had another visitor in our church this morning too. It was Rene Freret the director of BEAMS (Bible Education And Missionary Service). BEAMS works to distribute Bibles through missionaries into over 100 countries. They distribute more than 10,000 Bibles each month. Bro. Freret did not have a meeting this morning and was traveling from Pennsylvania to Mississippi. He dropped by the church just to spend the morning with us.

Someone sensitive to God’s leading realized that Bro. Freret and this lady from Thailand visiting on the same day might not be a coincidence and decided to put the two together. As only God could have planned, Bro. Freret was carrying one Thai Bible in his truck. He gladly went and got it so that this young Christian lady could have a Bible in her own language.

What a blessing to see God’s providential hand working in our service this morning.