PRIDE Detector
“Pride goes before destruction; and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Proverbs 16:18
One of the most fascinating objects in our house for our workers is our smoke detector! At seemingly random times, this little white thing goes berserk and makes all sorts of racket! They don’t seem to realize it is tied to when I burn the toast or leave a pan on the stove! When I finally explained it to them, I said, “No, this little thing protects us from fire! It beeps annoyingly to tell us that smoke is around!” To which they responded, “We have one of those too, in the roof of our houses. It’s a clump of leaves from the witchdoctor that doesn’t beep when there’s smoke, but it’s supposed to protect us from our house burning down.” Well, what can you say? Not exactly the same thing!!
This made me think: Wouldn’t it be nice if we had “pride detectors” in the roofs of our hearts? Little white, round machines that went berserk when pride reared its ugly head, threatening to burn us to the ground. Pride truly is a raging fire that can destroy us before we know it. “Pride comes before the fire!” Proverbs 16:18 (my version!) It’s also sneaky! It appeals to our “humanness, ” saying, “You deserve this! How dare they treat you in that way!” And, it takes on multiple forms: false humility, flattery, reverse flattery, outright slander and insinuating comments. God help us!! We need an advanced warning system! Well, we have one…the trouble is that often we fail to hear its beeps!
Our pride detector comes in the form of the Holy Spirit! He takes up residence in our heart and works like an alarm system, warning of incoming or indwelling issues. He has a tough job – problems can come from without (Satan and his crew) or from within (our Flesh – PRIDE being number one on the list!). The problem is that we can quench this alarm system. Disable it enough times, the detector just stops warning us! Or worse yet, we can sear our consciences into not even hearing Him at all.
So don’t go up in a puff of pride, keep your heart tuned to the effective Pride Detector - - God Himself in your heart! When the first fumes of pride’s smoldering fire are sensed, may we all be quick to recognize it for what it is: a tool of our flesh and the Enemy that is both destructive and debilitating. Stand ready to extinguish the fires of pride with the cooling waters of humility following our Leader, Jesus.
GOING DEEPER:
1. What will you do today to cool down the fire of pride with the waters of humility? FOR FURTHER READING
Phil. 2:5-11; I Thessalonians 5:19; Isaiah 57:15; James 4:6,10Oakwood’s missionaries Elin Henderson and her husband Phil serve as church planters with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa . Elin is mother to eleven-year-old Callie and eight-year-old Elias.
