08/03/2018
Have you realized what your greatest enemy has been using against your fortress of faith? Have you awakened to find that he has breached your walls and that you were the one who let him in? This is what happens when our own vanity become greater than our love for God, and this is what brings the Trojan horse into our city where we find it filled with our own pride.
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,”
Philippians 2:5-9 ESV
What is the downfall of great men and women of God? It might appear to be money, sex, covetousness, or desire, but those are all symptoms of a greater evil, and that is the pride which makes them feel greater than God... or at least His equal. Let me ask you a couple of questions; when you are doing something you know is a sin do you envision God standing there beside you? When you are naked in the bath do you feel His eyes?
The answer to these questions is critical. If you are tempted to commit a sin and feel God’s hand on your shoulder, that is conscience, but if you don’t then that is imagining that you can create a place where He can’t be. If you can only be naked and bathe by pretending you are alone, then you are living outside the love for God, but if you pray comfortably in the shower as if you were a child being soaped up by a parent... that is trust, and relationship.
Jesus never allowed Himself to yield to pride, and by knowing that God was always with Him, and feeling comfortable in his subservience, He lived a holy life. There was nothing in His relationship with the Father that felt uncomfortable, or out of place... He prayed without ceasing.
“When the old serpent, who had been cast out of heaven for his pride, spoke temptation into Eve’s ear, those words carried with them the very poison of hell. And when she listened, and yielded her desire and her will to the prospect of being like God... the poison entered into her soul” - Andrew Murray
The sin of Adam and Eve wasn’t jealousy of God... it was their desire to be like Him, and to be on the same plane that He occupied. Let me make some comments about the questions I asked earlier... if you were about to sin and felt God’s hand in you, and yet you viewed Him as your equal, would your conscience behave the same? If you were naked in the bath, and someone who was just a friend walked in... would you feel exposed? This is what happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve hid themselves, and covered their nakedness. They had lost the innocence, and closeness of relationship that Jesus never did.
Jeremiah tells us of how God views the pride and arrogance of false prophets who seek to make themselves great by speaking of false dreams and visions, and as Jeremiah speaks, this is what God says about His presence...
“"Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah 23:23-24 ESV
And also His warning...
“"When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, 'What is the burden of the Lord?' you shall say to them, 'You are the burden, and I will cast you off, declares the Lord.' And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, 'The burden of the Lord,' I will punish that man and his household.”
Jeremiah 23:33-34 ESV
Jeremiah is speaking of pride, a pride that makes the priests and prophets feel equal to, or greater than God... but just like in Eden this sin will reveal them, and they will be ashamed, a burden to God, and punished.
So what about our own pride? Have we cast it off, or is it alive and growing within us? Do we hear God’s voice at the moment of temptation, or hide in our own understanding? Do we bathe in innocence and comfort, or do we cover ourselves? All the vices and sins of man center on pride, and it is encapsulated in the first great commandment...
“"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-6 ESV
If we do this, then our pride falls away!
Prayer:
Thank you Father for the humility of Jesus Christ, and His example to us of a life free from pride. Thank you Holy Father for your presence which feeds our conscience, and your love that gives us comfort in our nakedness. Help us Merciful Father to resist the temptation of Satan as he waves the sweet smelling fruit of personal glory before us, and says eat and you will be like God. All glory is yours Father, and all wisdom flows from you... make us wise in our choices, help us to feel your strength when temptation knocks at our door. Bathe us in your grace Lord, which is through Christ Jesus, and gives us cause to bow before you, and praise you always. Never let our eyes be clouded as we view your greatness Father, and let no tempter convince us that we might stand equally beside you. Though our motive might be based in our admiration of you, our fall is in believing we the children can become like the Father... this is our pride, and this is our greatest sin. In our pride we become gods unto ourselves, so help us Father to remain humble before you, and children in your arms. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you the truth in my conscience, and the peace in my nakedness.
“Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.”
Psalms 140:13 ESV
Rich Forbes