Listen to Nancy’s answer recorded live on Moody radio, here:
God hates anything we do that keeps us from honoring God alone or enriching our relationship with our Savior. Prideful people are consumed with themselves and are masters of using others to elevate themselves. The arrogant will put others down whenever possible. Instead of worshiping God, they worship themselves as “god.” Sadly, at the end of their lives, they are angry and lonely with little if any friends.
“In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (Psalm 10:4).
“The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” (Proverbs 8:13).
Pride of self-righteousness or conceit is sin. God hates it mainly because pride hinders man’s desire to seek and find the One true God. The Christ-follower, who focuses on worshiping God and serving others, has the promise from God of eternal life with Him!. Their end will be what their actions deserve: eternity in Hell.
” But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath” (Romans 2:8).
“Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5).
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19).
Pride can also destroy any hope of having a healthy relationship with God and others even after we are saved. Pride negatively affects our relationships because it inflates our understanding of self and deflates our sense of God and others.
“Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves” (1 Peter 2:16).
“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isaiah 57:15).
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 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” (Philippians 2:2-8).
The opposite of pride is humility. A humble person recognizes their sin and their need for God’s grace. As much as God hates the prideful, in a more significant measure, he loves the humble and shows them great favor.
“Though the LORD is great, he cares for the humble” (Psalm 138:6).
“Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” So submit to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
We cannot fix our problems with pride, but God gives us sufficient grace to meet every need we have and every sin we face. As we contemplate whether to continue to live in arrogance or turn from our sin and humbly accept God’s grace Jennie Allen, author of “Get Out of Your Head,” says:
“Recognize, seek, and accept the benefits of humility, which helps you to see yourself accurately, as distinctly not awesome. This purifies your relationships with God and others, putting these relationships on a more sustainable footing. You’re freed from impressing others to service your ego. Humility also helps you see people as God sees them and treat people the way Jesus would treat them. When we “cast away self,” as Andrew Murray puts it in Humility, we’re freed from our self-preoccupation and can now notice others and recognize how God may be calling us to serve them.”
“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).