When the Bible talks about "the world", or "this world", it usually means the world system that is part and parcel of the world we currently live in. The spiritual head of this world system is the Devil, who is called "the prince of this world" three times in the Gospel of John. The world, in this sense, is not the same as the earth, although there are other contexts in which "world" and "earth" would be synonymous (e.g. going on a journey "around the world" means travelling around the earth). God created the earth we all inhabit, and it belongs to Him. "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." (1 Corinthians 10:26) However, the Word of God makes it very clear that God and the world (as in the system ruled by Satan) are diametrically opposed. For example, James says, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:4) The opposition between God and the world is such that to be friends with the world (which basically means conforming to its customs and values) is to be enemies with God. That is how opposed they are.
Another passage that shows the sharp distinction between God and the world is the one we're going to look at for Day 11 of this blog's Pride Month series. This passage comprises two verses, and the second verses lays out the "building blocks" of the world system. It shows the main spiritual foundations of the world. And guess what? One of those foundations is pride.
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:15-16)
James tells us not to be friends with the world. John goes a step further and tells us not to love the world. Whereas James says that friendship with the world puts you at enmity with God, John says that if you love the world, you don't have the love of the Father in you (and if that is the case, you're not saved, which puts you in the enemy camp). Then John gives us those three key building blocks. Firstly, the lust of the flesh (such as illicit sexual desire, or cravings for food, alcohol, drugs and so on). Then comes the lust of the eyes (coveting beautiful things, or ogling a seductively-dressed woman and suchlike). Last but most assuredly not least, we have the pride of life. And that is what we're going to delve into a little more closely now. But the first important thing to note about it is that like the other two "building blocks", it is not of God, but of the world.
Pride is at the heart of so much that goes on in the world. Think about sports for instance. What do athletes feel when they win an Olympic gold medal? PRIDE. What do the people of that athlete's country feel about it? PROUD. There may be other emotions, but pride is the foundational one. When an actor or actress wins an Oscar, or Emmy, or BAFTA, or Logie, or some such prestigious award, their main emotion is pride. Likewise if a musician wins a Grammy. The people who make the most obscene amounts of money in the world are often ones who either entertain us (fulfilling the lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes in the process) or who make us proud. In the case of many sports stars, they may both entertain AND make us proud. When you think about it, it's actually quite ridiculous that people can get paid millions of dollars just for throwing or kicking a ball around. Sure, some of them may be rather good at it, but at the end of the day, they're just playing a game. Yet they get paid these absurd sums to do so. But when they win that coveted trophy like the World Cup or Super Bowl, or a Grand Slam event, or whatever it might be, everyone gets a lovely big "pride fix". The fans of the victorious individual or team can bask in the reflected glory and get a huge feel-good dose of pride. (Of course, the fans of the losing team often feel sad and angry, and some even riot due to wounded pride.) And really, it is for their ability to provide this pride fix which people crave like a drug that these elite athletes earn their millions. The world worships such people. Why? It's not like a lot of them are even very good people. In fact, you don't have to look far to find all sorts of stories about wicked sins that elite athletes and entertainers have got up to. Well, the real reason the world loves these people so much is because of all the pride they generate when they succeed. Being able to feel proud matters an extraordinary amount to people in the world. The world is addicted to pride the way many people get addicted to drugs and alcohol. In many ways, pride IS the world's drug.
Many of our hopes and dreams also have a basis in pride. I once entertained fantasies of being a best-selling author. Pride was at the root of that dream. I am sincerely glad nowadays that I did not succeed (because I did actually write a couple of books, and I genuinely enjoy writing). Had I achieved the fame I dreamed of, I shudder to think how puffed up that might have made me. Other people dream of being TV stars, or rock stars, or elite sportspeople, or company CEOs, or being elected Prime Minister or President. Some of these dreams are sincere, while others may be idle fantasies (I will admit that while I have no intention of running for office, I have entertained a few "What would I do if I were Prime Minister" daydreams.) Other dreams may be slightly less lofty, but there could still be a pride element to them. Even in our hobbies, there can often be pride involved. For example, people who collect things (looking in the mirror here) can become proud about the size of their collections or about rare items in their collections (guilty). Or when people play games, they often get into arguments, essentially because one person's pride is hurt due to losing. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that so much of what we dream about or actually do has pride at its very core. However, if you look at the true saints in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, what was their main desire in life? To SERVE GOD and DO HIS WILL. They were no longer motivated by their own pleasure or pride, but by pleasing God. This is one of the biggest points of difference between loving God and loving the world. When you love God, you seek His will and His glory. When you love the world, you seek your own will and your own glory, because in a lost state, your pride is the thing that matters most to you.
One thing I have noticed about all the pride that's in the world is that people often care more about their image than about right or wrong. Or they care more about the image of their idol. From my recent reading of two books by Lady Colin Campbell, I have learned that the British aristocracy has a code that "it doesn't matter what you do, but what you are seen to be doing". In other words, to them it does not matter if you commit fornication or adultery, or some other sin, just don't let it become public knowledge. The Royal Family operates like this too. This wicked way of thinking is really rooted in pride. To be caught in a sin and have it publicly exposed means shame and humiliation. That hurts the pride. Rather than repent of their sins, these people prefer to cover them up and put up a front so they can keep looking good on the outside. Sadly, many professing Christians are like those aristocrats. They put up a holy and righteous front to appear good in front of others, but behind closed doors, they are as wicked as any unsaved person (because they're actually unsaved themselves). Jesus describes such people as follows: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear
beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." (Matthew 23:27) They are like that, essentially, because of their pride. They would rather put up an appearance of being righteous than actually be righteous. When they appear good, other people praise them. That in turn inflates their pride. Which is what they really want. They want to receive praise and glory from men.
Anyway, there is much more I could say, but I am trying to keep these Pride Month posts reasonably short. But the purpose of today's post has been to show how pride is actually one of the key building blocks of Satan's world system. It underscores an enormous amount of the world's most prized activities. Pride has no place in the Kingdom of God. A key building block of the latter is humility. The Lord Jesus Christ was humble during His time on earth, and we should follow His example. One of the key aspects of Christ's humility was that He sought His Father's will and not His own, and that is how we should also live as Christians. Instead of asking, "How will doing this make me look better before others?", we should ask, "What would the Lord have me do, and will this thing I want to do please Him?" Be clothed in humility instead of wearing pride like a loud and ostentatious shirt. I'll leave you with this from Peter: "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)
No comments:
Post a Comment