My dear readers,

Pride and Destruction; Before and After

Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life are the sins that will plague every baby born into this sinful world. It is not the world that made man into a sinner, but sinful man has turned this world into a cesspool of manifold transgressions. Of these three sins, the worst is the pride of life. This sin does not wane with age. In fact, it increases in intensity with age. With every passing year, sinful man’s accomplishments fan the fire of pride to a new level that burns within him. Self becomes the centre of his life. He wants to be remembered by as many people as possible that he has lived on this earth and impacted the world for his personal glory. He is most afraid of being forgotten. His pride refuses to accept that he is nothing and that every thing he touched in this life will turn to dust one day. Nothing will last for eternity.

Fear and desperation fuel his pride and ego even more as this longing to leave behind a mark in this world of quicksand cannot be satiated. It has consumed him since birth. It is an obsession that eats into his soul like canker. There is no release. As he nears death, pride still grips his foolish heart and refuses to let go until he breathes his last breath. He still cries and shrieks within his heart that he is somebody to be remembered, for all the billions of seconds he spent building and getting on earth cannot be vanity! His pride will not and cannot accept such a reality. But is that not the reality for all men? Past great glories of men have all been forgotten and erased from the face of this earth with the passing of time. Indeed, pride goeth before destruction; and, writing synonymously in Proverbs 16:18, God repeats Himself and warns that an haughty spirit goeth before a fall.

If this is the lot in life for all men, what is the point of living and getting?! Thank God there is hope. This awful pride in all men can be destroyed permanently. The literal translation of the above verse is – “In front of destruction is pride and in front of a fall is an haughty spirit.” The emphasis and warning from the LORD to His people is the end of life and every action in life. If His people do not wish to be destroyed or to fall, then they must get rid of pride in their hearts.

Since the pride of life is what every man is born with, how is he able to get rid of pride? Some have tried meditation. They empty their minds during that moment of deep meditation. They feel good when they empty their minds by thinking of nothing. They feel relaxed as if they have been transported into another realm where all their problems are left behind. They feel completely free within their being. They are completely liberated. They fly like the eagles in the sky without a care in the world . . . until they stop their meditation. The moment they stop, every iota of cares and problems in life rush back in. They cannot wait to begin their next meditation exercise. They wish they can live in this meditative state all their lives. But to do that they have to forsake everyone and everything in life which can only happen at death!

Thus, meditation avails them a temporary state of peace within and has become a “drug” they run to whenever they want to live in an alternate reality in their being even though their body lives on earth. Pride of life is dormant for that brief moment of meditation but it is not subdued permanently. The pride of life will rear its ugly head the moment they are insulted or hurt. The moment they do not get their beloved promotion they will mourn and sulk for months. Their pride is hurt whenever they are ignored. When all their colleagues are invited to the boss’s birthday party and they are ignored, they will feel so hurt for being deliberately marginalised. Man has no power to put down pride. Pride has been the death of innumerable souls and the ruination of millions of relationships and the evil bane of broken marriages and families!

God who made man is the only One who can change man from within and destroy the pride in his heart. The permanent transformation of every man’s heart is God’s sovereign domain. God has to get rid of sin in man's heart to get rid of the pride of life. Sin is the root cause. Man is powerless against sin that is his master all his life. Our sins against God cannot be washed away by good works or anything done on earth. The good works of man are done by sin-stained hands that originate from a sin-filled heart. His good works are like filthy rags in the holy eyes of God. When man can get rid of sin, he can then get rid of pride. Man needs to have his sins against God to be forgiven. He can in Christ.

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was sent by God (who loves sinners like us) to live, suffer and die for us. God accepted Jesus Christ’s sacrificial life and death as our all-sufficient payment for all the sins we committed against Him by raising Christ from the dead for our justification. When we truly surrender our lives and confess our sins to God and sincerely with all our heart receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour who died for us, the blood of Christ will wash away all our sins. The bondage of sin is broken forever. The penalty of sin that is death and hell is removed forever. The dominion of sin controlling us is torn asunder. The guilt of sin that plagued us has been erased as if we have never sinned before.

God gives to all His beloved children the mind of Christ which is the mind of humility. This is how God describes it in Philippians 2:1-8: “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

If we do not want to be destroyed or to fall, we need to exercise the mind of Christ. All believers are nothing but sinners saved by God's grace. We are the dirt underneath every sandal that man ought to stomp on for Christ’s sake; for Christ was my dirt and was stomped on by me when He took my sins and died for me. We are really nothing but depraved sinners bound for hell but now by God’s grace and mercies we are sanctified and justified and one day will be glorified. Let us decrease and realize that we are truly nothing without Christ. Let us promote and boast only of Christ so that by our good works others will glorify God alone forever. May we die to self and live for Christ daily all the days of our lives. Amen.