What Keeps Me from Growing (9 of 10) - Pride

Why Is Pride Bad for Us?
Here are some examples given in the Bible showing the destructive power of pride.
1. Pride is destructive because it was pride that caused Satan to sin and brought his downfall from heaven. Ezekiel 28:17

2. Pride is destructive because it often causes us to focus on our own physical features, like Satan did. Satan’s pride sounds a lot like the pride of Absalom, David’s favored son. 2 Samuel 14:25-26

3. Pride is destructive because it gives us a false sense of superiority.
Third John is a tiny book in the NT consisting of only 15 verses, yet it gives us an example of how pride can destroy us. Here’s what the apostle John wrote in verses 9-11.

4. Pride is destructive because it has a way of creeping into the work of the Lord. (Proverbs 27:2).

5. Pride is destructive because it lures us into thinking that we can live well independently of God.

 

A BAKER’S DOZEN OF VERSES ABOUT PRIDE

1. Proverbs 16:5 “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.”
2. Galatians 6:3 “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
3. Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”
4. James 4:6 “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”
5. 1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
6. 2 Timothy 3:2 “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy.”
7. Proverbs 29:23 “One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.”
8. 2 Corinthians 12:7 “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.”
9. Romans 12:16 “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”
10. Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.”
11. 2 Corinthians 10:18 “For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”
12. Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”