PRIDE Detector
“Pride goes before
destruction; and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)
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:
