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:
