Down From the Heights

Pride is a tricky thing. It is possible for Christians to assume that they are beyond reproach when it comes to something as lowly as pride. Surely, as seasoned saints, the art of humility has been mastered. But as sly and devious as the enemy himself, pride can worm its way into the church and gain a foothold. Pride can disguise itself as wisdom, discernment, and calling when it is nothing more than ego and the desires of selfish hearts.

Pride is a shapeshifter and a deceiver. It blinds individuals to the facts of reality and can cause even those in positions of great power to stumble. Pride is the gateway that exposes our eyes, hearts, and minds to that which is not of God. Pride is hasty, ambitious, and adaptable. Make no mistake, everyone is susceptible to the ploys of pride.

C. S. Lewis wrote this concerning pride, “According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind…”  

The term “pride” occurs 49 times across 46 verses in the King James Bible. One of the most quoted scriptures speaks of pride. Proverbs 16:18 reads, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Let’s look at a few key terms in this scripture and their translations. 

Pride: Majesty, exaltation, excellence, arrogance

Destruction: Fracture, breaking, breach, crash, ruin, crushing

Haughty: Height, grandeur, exaltation

Fall: A stumbling, calamity

Pride can cause a breach in even the most fortified walls. It is possible for pride to deceive us into believing that we can do better, that we are better, and that we know best. Pride has no reverence for others, as it seeks to elevate only the one struggling with pride and to crush anything and anyone standing in the way.

Obadiah 1:3 reads, “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?”

It was pride that caused the fall of Lucifer.

It was pride that caused Adam and Eve to listen to the serpent.

It was pride that Jesus called out time and time again while speaking with the Pharisees.

So how do we course correct? How do we get back to a place where we can recognize that we have pride? The answer is simple, yet difficult to master. We must reach a level of spiritual and emotional maturity that leads us to a place of self-reckoning, with our hands to the sky, and a posture reflective of a broken and contrite spirit.

We must get to a place where we can sincerely pray, “God, show me the true state of my heart. Reveal to me if I am struggling with pride. Open my eyes if they have been blinded and deceived. Convict me. Search me. Change me.”

Pride must be destroyed at its roots, which begin in the heart, and it is our responsibility to annihilate the pride within our own hearts. We can place the blame on no one else if we have been seduced by the illusions that pride has to offer, those of arrogance, disdain, and superiority.

Pride must be destroyed at its roots, which begin in the heart, and it is our responsibility to annihilate the pride within our own hearts.

Caitlin Walker

This is a call to come down from the heights, bow a knee, and walk humbly with God.