DIGGING DEEP NO. 932 – April 26, 2022 PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL Luke 12:13-21

Often times when we read the stories of the Bible, we can see ourselves in the characters. We might identify with Peter who always seemed to speak before he thought. Or perhaps, the father of the boy with epilepsy who cried out, “I believe, but help my unbelief.” It is disconcerting, though, to identify ourselves with a person who is on the wrong side of the story. This is the case with this story of the rich fool. Who among us has not sat back (or wished to be able to) and said, “It’s been a great year, I think that I’m going to give myself a bonus and start-up another IRA or go on a pleasure cruise?” The rich fool is identified as greedy and prideful. We share that moniker. All of the seven deadly sins—the core sins of life—are centered on self; they are built upon our selfishness and self-centeredness. We read in the third chapter of Genesis that God created humankind and place our ancestors in the idyllic spot called the Garden of Eden. They had everything—but they wanted more. Satan’s temptation to Eve was not only that the fruit looked delicious, but also that she would be like God. Pride is the desire to be lord of our lives and to be served rather than serve. Pride can be traced before the fall of Adam and Eve, back to the fall of Satan. The prophets speak of Satan’s pride and there is a tradition that Satan was God’s greatest created being, but he wasn’t satisfied with being number two. He wanted to be number one; he wanted to be God. His pride caused him to fall. The destructive force of pride is shown in this story of the rich fool. The problem was not because he was rich, and we must understand that this is not a story against success. The problem with the rich fool is that he was totally self-centered. He prided himself on the source of his success and understood that he was to be the sole beneficiary of his success. The man took no thought about God in his plans. His thought process was limited to what he wanted to do. The man did not see himself as part of a community, and that he was interconnected with others. He thought of himself as separate and alone beholding to no one. He did not consider sharing his riches with those in need or giving back to the community of which he was a part. 2 Chronicles 26:4-21 Many times, we begin our Christian walk well. Our focus is set on God, and our hearts are fully committed to Him. Then without warning, pride begins to rise up, pre­venting us from being all God wants us to be by blinding us to His ways. Satan tempts us to believe that we know better than He does. If left unchecked, pride will alter our attitude towards God and the route He has chosen for us to take. As believers, we need to be aware of Satan’s goal, which is to deeply wound and destroy the lives of God’s children. He never gives up on his quest to reach this goal and will wreak as much havoc as possible in the life of a believer. The book of Ephesians warned us about Satan’s ways in 6:11-12, before exhorting us to put on the full armor of God to protect us from that Wiley creature – the devil. And our innate pride is one of our weaknesses that Satan loves to use against us. Pride and our selfish nature are a constant struggle. Of all the struggles discussed in the Bible, pride is the one that has the most devastating results. Many of our problems result from pride’s work in our lives, but too many people fail to realize this. They become prideful over the good things God has given them — jobs, children, churches, pastors, education, neighborhoods, and much more. God is very specific. He hates pride. In fact, it is at the top of His list of sins that He despises: “Pride and arrogance and the evil way…And the perverted mouth, I hate” says Proverbs 8:13. The New International Version translates this bluntly: “I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. “Each morning, the enemy lays out his landmines in our lives. If we are not dis­cerning, we will fall prey to his tactics. The landmine of pride can tear a gaping hole in the life of the person who yields to its folly. It is one of Satan’s chief modes of opera­tion and favorite weapons of warfare because it tempts us to take our eyes off God and place them on ourselves. What do people think of you? If you are afraid, they’ll think badly of you, chances are it is pride that is causing you to feel that way. No matter how hard we try to cover it up, excuse it or justify it, pride produces the same result — arrogance and rebellion against God. Are you self-able? You may ask, “Isn’t it right to have pride in my ability? After all, I have talents and I’m smart. What possibly could be wrong with me taking pride in the talents God has given me?” There is nothing wrong with having a sense of pride in doing things well. God gives us talents and abilities to use for His glory, and He wants us to do our best. When we do, we honor Him and His life within us. But beware you do not think more highly of your abilities than you ought.  Romans 12:3 warns us to think soberly or with sound judgment. The Living Bible says: “Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you.”  Yes, God gave you your natural talents and abilities, and therefore He, and only He deserves the glory. However, many people fail to honor the Lord with their attitudes. They become self-centered, not self-able. They believe in Satan’s lies, which tell them they can accomplish whatever they want apart from God. This line of thinking always leads us away from God. And Satan wins the battle. God called a young man to the mission field. From the beginning, one trial after another assailed him. Each time, according to him, the problem involved key leaders within his organization. Amazingly, he refused to admit that he was part of the problem — it always was someone else. The young man began to tell others that those in authority over him could not do the work as well as he could do it. Soon, he became wrapped up in getting credit for his work, but no one would acknowledge what he had done. He was too prideful, and while his friends and coworkers real­ized this, he did not. A short time later, he became discouraged, disgruntled, and dis­appointed. Pride tempts us to believe we are better than someone else. Suddenly this young man felt as though he could no longer work with this organization. Without knowing it, his obedience to God was at stake. He was blinded by his pride and con­vinced that his only option was to leave the very work God had called him to do. Yet he overlooked one detail: God never rescinds His call. He may change our circumstances or location, but He will never ask us to abandon His will. The first step this young man took toward defeat came when he did not submit himself to the authority over him. He mistakenly believed that he knew more than the leadership God had placed in his life. That was Satan’s downfall too. Because God created him with great beauty and ability, Satan believed he could reign over God and His creation. Once this man decided to follow the deceptive words of his heart, pride had fertile ground in which to grow. Pride never admits its failures. Instead, the prideful person continues to push forward, blindly seeking self-gratification. Blindly thinking they are right and everyone else is wrong. It happens in churches all the time. Churches have split over the position of the clock or the color of the new Lino. Why? Because someone thought themselves right and others wrong and they wouldn’t relent from their position. Pride! The youth group was told they couldn’t play mission impossible during one Halloween gathering. The pastor told the youth leader that it was separating the young people and the game was deteriorating into boy-girl cliques. The pastor knew because it had happened before. What happened? The youth group leader succumbed to pressure and allowed what he’d been told not to do. When taken to task by the pastor, he refused to accept the reprimand. Pride! Instead, he rounded up several like-minded families and they left the church. Pride! Not submitting to authority because they wouldn’t concede that they were not right. The path­way of pride quickly becomes a slippery slope.  Pride always overemphasizes self. Our hearts need to be God-focused and not self-focused. What we think, feel, have, want, and desire is not what is important. If you are setting goals without God’s input, then you are on pride’s trail, and you are heading for trouble.