bp128

I am working on myself. Being the best spiritual growth writer is my goal. My pride needs worked on. As a matter of fact, my 225 rejecters laid out my path with 225 detours. Let me get my pride out the way. Is there any trait more deceptive? Is there any vice easier to see in others, but harder to see in ourselves? I see pride in the 225 rejecters. We despise its presence in them, but defend its presence in us. It is the ugly trait of pride, one of a number of traits for which God has a special disgust. My limp makes me look like I'm strutting. Well, I intentionally strut to cover my limp. Here are some things God says he hates, he despises, or he considers an abomination. We have already seen that God hates idolatry, sexual immorality, injustice, hypocrisy, & deceit. Today we will look at God’s hatred for pride. I feel like I'm in trouble. I am gay!
God Hates Pride. “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him.” So says wise old Solomon. & heading up the list of these seven deadly sins is “haughty eyes” (Proverbs 6:16-17). Haughty eyes are an arrogant man’s windows to the world. I got up to read 12:14a. But it's so boring. Then I thought of writing this paper. From the lofty perch of the proud's own superiority, he uses them to look down upon others. From his self-made pedestal, he fancies he can see with greater clarity than his Creator. I am proud of stopping my wheelchair & walking in front of 2,000 people, published for 1,000s. The coma I came out of was unreal, said my brain surgeon.

Later, Solomon lowers his gaze from the eyes to the heart. “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5). Instead of harboring thoughts of love to others, the proud man harbors judgment & bitterness. Instead of expressing kindness & compassion, he expresses disparagement. He is convinced of his superiority in achievement, intellect, morality, or spirituality. He is self-obsessed. Since I want to be a huge spiritual growth writer, I better be careful. I have never had a serious relationship. God told me to make my rejectors history. He & I were at the altar.

Pride is first an attitude of independence from God. It is synonymous in Scripture with scoffing, arrogance, foolishness, evil, & wickedness. It is directly opposed to the humble, God-fearing, meek, lowly, trusting, faith-filled disposition that is pleasing to God. “Pride & arrogance & the way of evil & perverted speech I hate,” he says (Proverbs 8:13). & no wonder. How could it be otherwise? When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” Before destruction a man's heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?” Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. “Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride. For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory. And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. The Lord of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low; The horror you inspire has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who live in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there, declares the Lord. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.