Nena Arias | April 6, 2020
Lessons on humility from God are very harsh lessons because pride in humans is involved. Pride is having a higher opinion of yourself than you ought to have. This pride can originate by thinking that you have achieved a level of accomplishment, pleasure and success by your own strength which grows into arrogance. At that point, you are ripe for a fall. This has always been and will always be the outcome. When a person is too arrogant, he or she is bound to make a mistake or fail in a big way because they act on presumption. Proverbs 16:18-19 says it very plain: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit…”
Haughtiness is full-blown arrogance and filled with pride. When you’re haughty, you have a big attitude and act like you’re better than everyone else. There is a sense of superiority that looks down on others. Haughty people are disdainful, overbearing, prideful, contemptuous, egotistic, snobbish, presumptuous and plain obnoxious. Needless to say, haughtiness is a very deadly sin. It is very trying to be around someone like that, to say the least. It is especially hard if you are married to someone like that, or you have to work for them.
Pride and haughtiness should never be mistaken with self-esteem, which in a good and balanced measure is healthy. No one, who has not transgressed should ever be ashamed of themselves. We are created in God’s image and likeness and are therefore a very special creation. But when an exaggerated sense of feeling good about self crosses the line, that person, or nation, has no respect for others and their accomplishments. In time, they even disrespect and scorn the God that made them. We have to be humble and admit that the world has grown very prideful and turned its back on God. He is reminding us that he is still the Creator and the God of the universe and of our lives.
The right attitudes of the heart require constant vigilance otherwise they tend to fade from our character if we ever had them.
The same cultivation that the individual requires to develop good character traits is true of nations.
At present, we in the 21st century, the year 2020 to be exact, are witnessing something that we have only read about mostly in the Bible and history books. It is a worldwide humbling brought about by God’s judgment of the world’s myriad of sin and Christianity’s failure to be the salt and light in the measure that God commanded us to be.
Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV)
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Our presence to influence the world with God’s truth and godly principles has not been enough and our world has only gotten darker and more sinful than we have ever seen in our lifetime. The level of sin and mocking God has reached an obvious limit to the degree that God’s message to all of humanity at this time is ENOUGH of your sinning! His intervention has brought the whole world to a screeching halt and only threatens to get worse if we don’t pay attention and turn from our godless ways.
The level of sin that God is judging in the world has reached a fever pitch and we could create a list miles long and still not mention them all. The deafening cry for justice of the over one billion babies that have been slaughtered in the world and continue to be slaughtered daily inside and outside of their mother’s womb is blood-curdling. The rampant lust, debauchery, envy, anger, greed, gluttony, criminality, mockery of marriage and the shattering of the family unit, oppressive government and the enslavement they perpetuate by plundering the people, etc. etc. etc. Like I said the list is endless of what God sees going on in the world. He would not be God if he allowed it to continue. There is a limit to the level of sin that he will allow. Genesis 6:3, “My spirit shall not contend in man forever, for he is flesh…”
Let’s understand the loud message from God and humble ourselves before him and turn from our wicked ways that we may be saved.
(Photo: Planet Earth | YouTube)