A Cure for Pride

April, 2005

by: Edward Wilde

A company sells hair products, ties, clips and such with the words, “It’s All About Me” written across the package. That could be a motto for our culture. Our culture and our ever-present nature to sin teach us to make ourselves the purpose of everything, the end for everything.

This is as the Puritan Charnock noted, “Man would make himself the end of all creatures, man would sit in the seat of God.” Our pride would unseat God from the throne. We would put ourselves in the place of God, if we could.

All pride, indeed, all sin is a direct attack upon God. Any sin, even the simplest, littlest sin (as if there were such a thing) is rebellion against God, because every sin is a decision by you to replace God’s law with your desires.

Thus, even simple, ordinary pride is an affront to God. You don’t need to actually think, “I am better than God” to be in rebellion against Him. As Charnock explained, “When we entertain a high opinion of ourselves, and act for our reputes [reputation], we dispose God from our own heart”. To put it differently, when you think that you’re great, you are putting yourself in God’s place.

To cure us of pride, God works upon us by means of His Spirit and His Word. He reproves our pride in unmistakable terms, to undo the work of sin in our heart and set us free to be servants of the Most High God. Christ broke Peter’s pride, and in so doing, Peter became a man who loved Christ. God broke Paul’s pride, and Paul became “a servant of Christ Jesus”. Rom. 1:1. Unless God, by His Spirit and His Word, breaks our pride, we can be of no use to Him.

In Romans, Paul, the servant of Christ Jesus, sets forth the Gospel, and in so doing, he sets forth a cure for pride. By the 9^th Chapter of Romans, Paul moves onto the unconditional, sovereign election of God. In displaying this doctrine, Paul breaks the teeth of human pride, your pride. Watch:

In verse 18, Paul writes, “He [God] has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires” God does what he pleases. Salvation and damnation are matters not within human will, but God’s (John 1:13).

This runs counter to the display of human history. How many temples, sacrifices, candles, prayers have been offered up to change the will of God? Consider your own personal history and how you have thought and prayed. And what does God say? He has mercy or hardens whomever He desires. Think that through for a moment… It’s not fair!

Who said that? You. In verse 19 Paul writes, A. You will B. not someone else, not they, but you; you will say, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” Go grab your Bible right now and check, you are the speaker in verse 19.

Of all the matters covered in the Bible, the Holy Spirit knew that this doctrine would stir every “you” who picked up the Book to question God. The first readers were “the beloved of God in Rome”, and they were “you”. Believers throughout the ages read these words and found themselves accused by God. You are “you.”

There is something about God’s election which crosses the pride of every human heart. In the Garden, our first parents were unwilling to accept the choice of God for their position. They were promised, “You will be like God.” That promise was enough to lead them to rebel against God’s will.

That same refusal to recognize and accept the freedom of God lies at the heart of rebellion and pride. Thus, when God proclaims His complete freedom to deal with human beings as He sees fit, we humans rebel at His right to judge.

God cures our pride with a cutting response: “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” Who are you to question God, you are a human being. He then elaborates on your status: You are a thing that was “molded”. You are made out of clay.

In short, someone made you out of clay. Sit down with that thought, let it settle in; chew it over. What ground do you have for pride? You are just plain dirt, but for God. When you find a stir of pride, remember who you are.