The Word To Live By: 1-14-26
Phil Waggoner
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. Proverbs 16:18
The Word To live By: The next thing I want to talk about that will derail your faith is pride. Let’s start with a quick definition of the kind of pride we are talking about. The pride the Bible is talking about is a feeling of self-regard; a state of mind that you are the only one who can solve the problem and if you can’t, it can’t be solved. There are so many different negatives in your life that stem from pride. Two of them are anxiety (worry) and fear. 1 Peter 5:5-7 says, “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” What are you saying when you are worried about something? “Even God can’t fix this.” Or at best, “God won’t fix this.” Neither statement lines up with scripture. To humble yourself means to put God’s Word and thoughts above your own. It’s not modesty or lack of arrogance; it’s acknowledging your need for God and submitting to His will. Acts 17:28 says, “In Him we live, and move, and exist.” Everything in you that is of a positive nature is from God. Our job is to grow that talent through prayer, study and exercising the gift, but also to never forget where it came from. When you recognize the grace and mercy of God in your life, you are being humble. When you behave in such a manner that it came from you, that’s pride and you are setting yourself up to stumble. Romans 12:3 states that pride will clearly derail your faith. “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” Faith works by grace when you recognize that God is the source of your good judgment. I’ll close with Psalm 25:9, “He leads the humble in justice, and He teaches the humble His way.”
Read through the Bible in a year: Luke 12:1-31; Genesis 21; Psalms 14;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 14, Matthew 7:16-29, Acts 14:
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160