The Rotten Fruits Of Pride

How can we detect & recognise pride in our hearts?

Here are some common signs when i am demonstrating the fruits of pride when i am...

Selfishly ambitious: wanting to make a name for myself, wanting to be well known and important; to have a title and high position.

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Overly competitive: always wanting to win and come out on top in everything

Dominating conversations: interrupting people to make my own ideas heard

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Refusing to receive correction: becoming angry and defensive when corrected, seeing it as an invasion of my privacy, I resent the person correcting me.

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Insisting on having the last word in an argument; to prove I am right.

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Wanting to impress people and making my accomplishments known.

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Wanting to be the center of attention and mostly talking about myself; wanting to be in the spotlight and have a hard time serving 'behind the scenes'.

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Not fulfilled serving others; wanting to be served rather than serve.

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Envious, jealous or critical towards those who are doing well or being honoured.

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Wanting to be independent, self-sufficient and not ask people for help.

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Anxious about my life and my future; have a hard time trusting God.

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Self focused and overly self-conscious: I am very concerned about my appearance and what people think of me. Often comparing myself to others, "performance oriented". I feel that I have greater worth if I do well.

Self-critical and tend to be a perfectionist. I have a hard time accepting when I make mistakes.

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Self-serving. When asked to do something, I find myself asking “How will this help me?" or "Will I be inconvenienced?” More focused on my own interests than on the needs and interests of others.

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Thinking highly of myself in relation to others, I typically see myself as more mature and more gifted than most people.

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Tending towards self-righteousness. Pointing out people's sins and looking down on them for not being as 'holy'.

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Feeling deserving of everything I have; and that the world 'owes' me.

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Often feeling ungrateful. Instead of appreciating other people, I tend to complain about them; and grumble about what I don't have in life.

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Wallowing in self-pity: consumed with how I am treated by God and others. Tend to feel mistreated and misunderstood.

Demonstrating a know-it-all attitude. I am impressed by my own knowledge and understanding of things. I have an answer for everything and have to make my opinions known.

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Being contentious and argumentative, easily angered and offended. I don't like being crossed or disagreed with. I find myself thinking, "I can't believe they did that to me". I often feel wronged.

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Continually having 'personality conflicts' with others. I have a hard time getting along with certain kinds of people. People regularly tell me I am 'difficult.’

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Critical of others: feeling or talking negatively about people. I subtly feel better about myself when I see how bad someone else is.

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Self-willed and stubborn. I have a hard time cooperating with others. I really prefer my own way and often insist on getting it.

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Unsubmissive. I don't like being under the authority of another person or beng told what to do. I always like to be in charge.

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Thinking I don't need this list because I'm pretty humble already!

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This is, admittedly, a very comprehensive list of the fruits of pride; and likely most of us can see ourselves in some of these points. This list is not meant to condemn; but only to bring awareness of areas where pride may have taken up residence in our heart.

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Many of these can also be symptoms of low self-esteem, but ironically, this insecurity usually goes hand in hand with pride - a compulsive need to prove oneself.

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• There needs to be a balance. When some people hear a message about humility, they think it means becoming passive, timid and fearful never attempting anything great for God.

This is far from the truth. God even rebuked Moses for his false humility, losing patience when Moses kept coming up with one excuse after another for why he could not do what God was calling him to do:

Moses said, 'O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.’ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses..." Exodus 4:13-14

We must not allow false humility to keep us from stepping out in faith to fulfil our calling & destiny when God has commissioned us to go.... We may not use 'humility’ as a cover for fear, passivity or laziness.

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Humility does not give us license for self-deprecating atitudes or self-hatred either.

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Nor does humility mean that we should hide our light under a bushel, or bury our God-given gifts and talents in the dirt out of fear.

God wants us to rise up and let our light of Him shine!

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WHAT PRIDE IS NOT:

1. Shining the light of God into the world and upon others

1. Acknowledging and using our God-given gifts, fruits and abilities. Walking in them.

• Pursuing what God has asked and carrying out His will desires and purposes above our own.

• Taking purposeful action to achieve God's goals in our lives.

• Standing up for the truth, God's truths and speaking his truths in love, God's justice, love, judgement, Holiness and righteousness.

Living out what God commands us to.

Jesus said: “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:42-45

A true servant’s heart is essential for living in Christ Jesus daily. A servant’s heart allows the person to put aside his or her own agenda in order to carry out Christ’s mission. The one who leads is the one who is willing to serve. Beware! The barriers to carrying out Jesus’ commands through apathy, lack of concern, or having no sense of urgency, or not seeing it as our responsibility. Based on a relationship with the Servant Leader, Jesus Christ, is in doing the will of our father in heaven.

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The only way we can truly conquer pride in our lives and to walk in humility is to receive a divine revelation of God's unconditional love for us personally, secure in Him, embracing that we have nothing to prove to anyone - not to ourselves, not to the world and not even to God. For we can do nothing of our own initiative, or from our own inner strength power or good ideas. Many of us have grown up with parents, or other figures that seemed impossible to please, whatever we did or did not do was never good enough for them. So we always felt like we had to prove ourselves to achieve, to be perfect and earn their attention, to be loved and accepted and pleased by them, and in not being criticised, or constantly told off and put down, yet still nothing we did could ever placate them. God is not those people, He is certainly nothing like that & doesn't operate in that way. He wants to open the eyes of our understanding and understand how his love goes beyond human understanding or comprehension.

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Even with Cain, heavenly father warned him that sin was crouching at his door and not to allow it to overcome him or give in to it, but he refused to listen and allowed his corrupt fallen flesh to take over, of pride, jealousy, hatred, envy & covetousness that led to him murdering his own brother Abel.

This was the very first recorded murder in the history of mankind. Did God then kill Cain? Cain was terrified of retribution from others & that he himself would be murdered for having taken another's life, and the righteous life & blood of his own brother was upon his hands. Yet God reassured him and put a mark upon Cain to protect him from being murdered by another. Why? Why would God even bother to go to all that trouble and do that, to keep Cain alive? Because our father God ultimately wanted Cain to come to a place of repentance, of redemption and restoration. He was willing to be patient to see that from Cain. {Genesis 4:2-15}

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Sadly this didn't happen, but are you catching glimpses of how great God's love actually is? He sent His own only begotten son Jesus to give us life in the Spirit so we are not always striking for a position we haven't even been anointed for, who heals us from the sin of pride and of false humility, but he empowers enables and teaches us how we may love others as He loves us & has poured and baptised us into His love to then be able to effectively demonstrate His love with humble hearts out to others.

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knowing that everything we have and all that we are beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Christ in you the hope of glory. Because of His amazing grace & power. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Now I rejoice in my ·sufferings for you, and fill up on my part what are lacking of the afflictions of the Christ in my ·flesh for his ·body, which is the church; whereof I became minister, according to the dispensation of ·God ·given me toward you, to fulfill the word of ·God, the mystery ·hid from the ages and from the generations: but now hath it been manifested to his ·saints, to whom ·God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this ·mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of ·glory: whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ; Colossians 1:24-29

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Our inner security rests on the solid truth that we are 'accepted in the beloved' right here and right now; and that God's approval does not depend on our performance, there is no condemnation for all those who are IN CHRIST, abiding in him as the vine are resting in Him, loving Him in obedience in grace through faith in action by the Holy Spirit operating within us. Crucifying the flesh & that rebels against God's authority over us. Realising and understanding what we have is by the grace of God, we then can walk in gratitude thankfulness, peace, servanthood, gentleness, mercy, patience, grace, hope, faith & love. We are His sons and daughters in whom He is well pleased.

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When we seek to walk in the depths of humility going to our cross, we model ourselves upon Jesus Yeshua the humble King, who chose to ride into Jerusalem upon the foal of a donkey, a humble beast of burden, not a powerful stallion of a horse. Whom God allowed to be born in a smelly dirty stinking stable. Jesus as the King didn't choose the highly intellectual doctorate university college trained seminary taught professors to be his disciples, servants and minsters, but fishermen, just ordinary every day men and women from humble walks of life, even former prostitutes, adulterous, tax collectors, the blind, the lame, the deaf, the down and outs, sinners whom Jesus turned into saints. Those who think they are so wonderful to their shame he is so far removed from, & isn't with them. Jesus spoke about that alot. {Luke 18:9-14} Jesus is going to be where he is most needed and wanted.

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All we need to be known for is our service, love & steadfast faithfulness to abba and in loving and serving others. Like Jesus made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant.

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"Even of the Creator of the world, it's declared, "All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." John 1:3, Col. 1:16. This is an amazing Word. And the Word wasn't a word, the Word was a Person. He divested His coat of Divinity, stepped across the stars, entered the womb of an ordinary (ordinary) peasant girl and became the son of man. How extraordinary!

He was wrapped in swaddling cloth, in a manger-cow dung, smelly, spiders, bugs, beetles, dirt. What a welcome! Is this a revelation or a sign? {Luke 2:12}

The Master's advent into this world. Hidden, incognito. Is this revelation like the Master? As someone said, "You don't have to take lessons (or do I?) on being ordinary, you are ordinary!" That's the truth. Embrace it. God is actually in the ordinary!

The Son of God, Jesus Christ came into the world disguised. Nobody recognized Him. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. John 1:11

Moses was raised in a palace. Jesus was born in a stable. They said of Him, "How does this man know these things having never learned?" {John 7:15} A workman, a carpenter. The Creator of the world in disguise.

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Is this why we have missed it?

That we have been set for being somebody?! Because who wants to be a nobody? Does the truth, "I am ordinary," pave the way into the extraordinary? Is this what Jesus meant when He said, "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them yet...?" John 16:12 Have I embraced the truth that I am ordinary?

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We put in the shop window what we want to sell. But before we put it in the shop window, we adorn it, we paint it, we cut it, we adjust it, and do everything to make it appear different from what it really is. We call this pride. God hates it. My flesh loves it. Humility is indeed an obligation, not a virtue.

If we want to truly live a life of freedom, a life full of peace and joy, a life which provokes others to jealousy -- we must learn to die to our flesh and give our all to the One who has given His all for us! Let's take up our cross once again today and everyday as we no longer live for self. “I have been crucified with Christ and no longer I live, but Christ lives in me: and what I now live in the flesh I live by faith which is in the son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20