Welcome to the second post in my thirty-day Pride Month study about pride. Here is today's Scripture:
"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." (Psalm 10:4)
The most fundamental, core reason why people don't believe in God or have any interest in seeking Him is pride. In fact, every time you hear an atheist scoffing, pride permeates their every utterance. They'll say things like "I'm far too intelligent and rational to believe in an ancient book of fairy tales!" That's pride right there. They're boasting in their intelligence. They think they're "too smart" for the very God who gave them their brain and ability to think. Or perhaps they might say, "I don't need some old man in the sky telling me what to do, I can work out my own morality, thanks!" Pride again. They think they can just make up their own rules as they go along. They become their own gods, inventing their own commandments. There are many other similar examples I could mention. They take delight in mocking God and His Word this way. Rightly does the Scripture say, "Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath." (Proverbs 21:24) The scoffers of today are certainly proud and haughty scorners. And they often get pretty angry and aggressive too.
However, that very pride blinds them. It prevents them from seeing the reality of their wretched sinful state and need for Christ. And it is not only atheists who have this pride. Many religious people have a similar pride. The Pharisees certainly had a lot of pride, and it blinded them to the truth Jesus was teaching them. Outwardly, they were very devout and had some correct beliefs, but inwardly, they were utterly rotten. They looked down their nose at obvious sinners, rather like some churchgoers do today. In their pride, they could not see that they were just as wicked. When the Bible talks of "the wicked", it doesn't just mean open unbelievers (like atheists or agnostics), or homosexuals, or abusers, or hardened criminals, or any other people you might associate with the word "wicked". It refers to all lost people, including devout churchgoers who are yet unsaved. (Some of the most evil people on earth can be found in a church pew on Sundays. And no, scoffers, it's not because they're "crazy Christians", but because they are not born again. They are false converts who are just as unregenerate as a serial killer.) In their pride, they have no interest in truly seeking God. Even when they believe in Him, it is a very shallow belief that is no better than that of devils: "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." (James 2:19) They may have a basic belief, but pride prevents them from understanding the truth of their lost condition, and very often gives them a distorted view of God.
The opposite of a proud heart and haughty spirit is a heart that is broken over sin and a spirit that is contrite. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." (Psalm 51:17) When you become sad and sorrowful over your sin, and repent towards God over it, then your blindness will start to lift (in fact, if you are repentant, it will already have lifted a fair way). "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." (Psalm 34:18)
In order to repent towards God over sin however, you have to humble yourself. Because to admit that you are a sinner against God does not engender a lot of pride. And this is where countless millions miss the strait gate and narrow way. In their pride, they cannot and will not admit that they have done wrong against God. They cannot and will not admit that their life of sin is wrong. And even when they do grudgingly admit that they are bad people, they seek the wrong remedy. In their pride, they turn to a religion that offers works salvation instead of simply repenting and accepting God's free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Some may go to a church that calls itself Christian and kind of acts and sounds Christian, yet is full of unregenerate, worldly people like themselves. They "play church", sing a few hymns, politely listen to a sermon, socialise for a while afterwards, and then go back to living just as wickedly as their unbelieving counterparts, whom they probably despise. "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me." (Matthew 15:8) Yet they think this outward show of religion every Sunday will be sufficient to assure them of a place in Heaven. And in this, they are trusting just as much in their works as people involved in cults or false religions. So they carry on their merry way, just as lost and blinded by their pride as they have ever been.
To summarise today's Pride Month devotion, if I may call it that, pride is the thing that makes people go their own way instead of seeking God. It is the fundamental reason why atheists scoff, but also the reason why there are so many unregenerate professing Christians and other religious people (many of whom can be just as vicious in their scoffing, even if their targets may differ). When people are full of pride, they don't want to think about God or His ways. They prefer to fill their minds with the vain and empty things of this world, rather than focus on eternal things. They would rather keep up with the Kardashians than keep up their Bible study (if they profess Christianity - there are actually some atheists who probably study the Bible more diligently than a lot of so-called Christians!). And they would far rather think about the lusts that they are walking after than ponder the state of their soul. The very pride that the world thinks is such a beautiful thing is in fact a deadly snare. It is taking countless millions to the Lake of Fire, because it is making them confident in their sin when they should be trembling before Almighty God, and making them blind to the fearful reality of His judgement. A person who cannot be reasoned with, whether over Biblical matters or anything at all, is one blinded by their own pride. So they continue to give God a wide berth while they indulge sinful pleasures to the fullest, little or knowing or caring that a day of reckoning is coming. "And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." (Isaiah 13:11)
One day, your pride will be crushed by the judgement of God. Of course, in your current proud state, you may think that it will never happen, but it most assuredly will. Just as you answer to an earthly judge for transgressions against man's law, so you will answer to God when He judges you for your transgressions against His Law. The only way to escape is to humble yourself in repentance. Humble yourself now, while mercy is available, before God humbles you. Grieve and be sorry for your sins against God, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Many people actually do the latter, but neglect the former due to the pride in their hearts. That is why there are so many false converts in the world. Have you ever really humbled yourself before God, confessed your sins and grieved over them before Him? If not, you may still be lost, even if you believe "all the right things". I should know. I was that way for a great many years. So I also know just how much of a barrier pride can be to finding true salvation, even to someone raised in a Christian home and knowing the Scriptures from childhood.
A couple more verses to close this post out:
"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 14:11)
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." (James 4:10)
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